The Lieutenant's Daughter
by EvilTulip
Summary: What if Horatio had a daughter called Amylia? AmyliaRyan, HoratioYelina. Most is post season four, but chapter thirteen and on has spoilers for the last few episodes of season five. Please read and review. LAST CHAPTER UP!
1. Monday

**A/N: **If you want to know what kind of person Amylia actually is, or how Horatio re-met her, please read the 'Family History' trilogy. And I want to thank all the reviewers who've reviewed all my previous stories. Please correct my English if I've made a mistake.

**Summary: **There's Horatio, and there's a girl who calls herself his daughter. Just some fun things. Ryan/Amylia, Horatio/Yelina, and I want to add some action and excitement to the mix!

**Disclaimer: **As always, I do not own any of the CSI:Miami characters, but I do own Amylia, Samantha and Christina, but, as I've said before, everybody is free to use them as long as they send me a PM.

_**The Lieutenant's Daughter**_

**Monday **

She was stubborn. Like father like son, they say, but in this case it was like father like daughter, or so it seemed. Horatio closed the front door behind his back and went on his way to work. She was seventeen, going on eighteen, so she could handle herself in the morning before going to school.

Amylia woke up the second she heard the door close. She looked at her alarm clock and groaned. Fife-thirty am, way too early. But Amylia knew she couldn't sleep anymore now, because it would be her first day at her 'new' school here. She would finish the semester here, in Miami. She missed her school up in New York, and all of her friends. But after school she'd go to the lab, to see Horatio. He asked her to do so, for he was pretty overprotective. Afraid she, like her mother Samantha and Horatio's late wife Marisol, would get killed by the Mala Noche too. Amylia got out of bed and dressed herself.

She walked to the living room and turned on the TV for the news. Not paying much attention to what was on the screen, she walked to the small kitchen to make herself some breakfast. Amylia poured herself some orange juice and prepared a bowl of cereals. With this in her hands, she walked back to the living room and sat down on the couch. Ah, a media report about a murder on TV. Amylia smiled at the TV, wondering how the media would make her father look.

Horatio slipped on his sunglasses while leaving the victim's residence. The amount of media attention didn't surprise him, for it had been a local celebrity that had been murdered.  
"Lieutenant Caine! "  
"Caine!"  
"Lieutenant!"  
"Hey you!"  
The media screamed for his attention, but Horatio only said one thing;  
"My team will get this killer off the streets."

Amylia was proud of her father, for the amount of control he had over himself and the crowd of spectators. She put the empty juice glass and the cereal bowl in the dishwasher, walked back to her bedroom to comb her hair, put on some mascara and lip gloss and after this to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She remembered a conversation she had had once, when she was younger. Much younger. Six, to be precise.

"_I don't wanna go to school! I wanna stay here with you!" Amylia whined. Samantha smiled at Horatio. He looked at Amylia and kneeled.  
"Listen, sweetheart. Mommy and I have to go to work. We have to catch the bad guys."  
"Bad guys?" Amylia looked at him. "I wanna catch the bad guys too!"  
Samantha smiled. "Amy, sweetie, when you are older, you can catch the bad guys too."  
Amylia looked at her now. "Really?"  
"Really"_

Really. Amylia laughed when she thought back to this. It was one of not many memories she had that were pre her seventh birthday. Pretty weird, actually. But still, her dream was coming true. After summer, she'd go to college to study Forensics and Chemistry. She had, ever since Horatio moved to Miami, planned to go to Florida too after graduation. Well, also that seemed to have come true. Only not after graduation. Pretty weird how your mom's murder could let all your plans come true. After she'd finish college and university, she'd start working at the Crime Lab. Her father would become her supervisor. And she, she'd become his employee. But she'd always be his daughter. Amylia Samantha Caine.

Horatio smiled at a picture of a young Amylia in his wallet. It was a picture of when she'd been much younger. Thank god Samantha had raised her well in the years after their divorce. Although – he'd never doubted that she'd raise Amylia well. The only reason why they'd divorced was because she and he himself had been too busy with both their jobs. Samantha as a DA, he as a Detective. They'd become strangers to each other. The past weeks, after Samantha's murder, Horatio had become re-acquainted with his daughter. Oh, how would he kill anyone who'd hurt her.

* * *

A few hours later, Amylia got on the bus. She walked down the isle, looking at several people before she noticed a girl who sat somewhere alone. The girl looked lonely.  
"Hey. Can I sit here?" Amylia asked the girl. The girl nodded and looked at her.  
"Sure."  
"I'm Amylia Caine" Amylia said.  
"Jan Mitchell. Caine, you say?"  
Amylia nodded.  
"You must have heard this hundredth of times before, but, are you family of one Horatio Caine?"  
Amylia laughed. "Actually, you're the first one to ask. I've lived in New York for all my life, but after my mother was murdered I moved to Miami."  
The girl looked at her. "Oh, I'm so sorry. That must be awful."  
Amylia looked away. "Yes. It is. I don't think I've already realized I've lost her, so it sounds so weird. But indeed, I am family of Horatio Caine."  
"I think he's the coolest crime scene investigator in the whole of Miami!"  
Amylia smiled and looked at Jan again. "Thanks. He's my father."  
"Your what? Your father?"  
Amylia nodded. "Uh-huh. So, what's this school like?"  
"It's horrible. At least, when you're such as geek as I am. They keep telling me science is for geeks. I can't help it that I'm good at science and that chess is such an interesting game!"  
"My first impression of you is non-geekish, so to me, you're not a geek. And chess indeed is a cool game. You know what? Do you wanna learn how to play poker? It's just as interesting as chess, only the image of it is way less geekier"  
Jan looked at her. "You wanna do that?"  
"Absolutely" 

Horatio looked at his CSIs that were investigating the crime scene. It was weird knowing that there now was someone else in his life that he had to take care of. Someone that would wait for him when he got home. Amylia. Sure, Marisol had waited at home for him in the times they were married, but having a wife at home wasn't the same as having a daughter at home. Amylia had been seven when he and Samantha had divorced. She now was an almost-grown-up young woman, prepared to fight the hurdles the world would present her with. She'd turn eighteen in November. And still, it seemed she hadn't changed that much. Oh, how he remembered when he said good bye for the very last time, from when on he'd be a guest when visiting her and Samantha…

"_Daddy! Please don't go!" Amylia cried, holding on to Horatio's coat. The people walking by on La Guardia airport didn't even pay attention to them, probably used to little kids cry when saying goodbye to a parent. Horatio kneeled and looked at her. "Amylia, I really have to go now. I have to catch a plane."  
"Take the next one! Or better, take no plane at all! I don't want you to go!"  
"Sweetie, you can visit me whenever you want in Miami. And I will visit you. And we'll call."  
"But I don't want you to go"  
Samantha now also kneeled. "Sweetie, daddy has to go now. I'm sure he'll call us the minute he arrived at Miami International"  
Amylia looked at Horatio with tears in her eyes. "Don't be gone forever" she whispered.  
"I promise I won't be gone forever. And I promise to call you when I arrive in Miami."  
Both Horatio and Samantha now straightened up and looked at each other.  
"I'm sorry it had to be this way" Horatio said. Samantha nodded.  
"I'm too. I-"  
"Take care, all right?"  
Samantha nodded and hugged him. "I will if you will"  
"I promise"  
And he was gone. _

Things had been different than he had planned. But all things he planned went the wrong way, so he had stopped trying to plan his life decades ago.

Amylia looked at Jan. "How're the teachers?"  
"They're nice if you do what's asked. I hope you'll share some subjects with me, so you can sit next to me. After all, you've no one to sit next to yet and I'm always sitting alone"  
"I'd love that!" Amylia said happily. "Where do you plan to go to college after graduation?"  
"I dunno yet. Do you?"  
"Hmm" Amylia answered vaguely. "what subjects do you have?"  
For a while, the girls chatted on, until the bus stopped in front of the school.  
"Come on. What's your first subject?"  
"Maths" Amylia said.  
"Oh, so is mine! I'll show you around a bit."  
"Oh, thanks."

_Time goes by fast. Too fast at times, too slow at other times. It's just a matter of timing to let everything run smoothly. _

Both Horatio and Amylia realized that.

**A/N: **More coming up if you like it!


	2. Curiosity

**Curiosity**

"Okay. So I'll see you tomorrow then?" Amylia said. Jan nodded.  
"I hope so. Well… have a nice day then."  
"You too." Amylia was just about to turn away, when she remembered something.  
"Jan?"  
Jan looked at her. "Yes?"  
"Where's the closest bus stop? My father told me to take the bus to the lab. I know which bus to take, but I just need to know the bus stop."  
"Oh, sure. C'mon, I'll show you. I have to take the bus too. Same bus, I think."  
The both of them started walking in the direction of the bus stop.  
"Where do you have to go?" Amylia asked.  
"My job."  
"Oh, where do you work?"  
"Nothing special. A book store."  
"Oh, cool. Can you show me one day? I love to read."  
"I do too!"  
They arrived at the bus stop. Amylia looked at the time table.  
"Is it true that this bus stops here at four fifteen?"  
Jan nodded. "So, what did you think of our school?"  
"Oh. Well."  
"So?"  
"Not that much different of my other school. Except the fact that the a/c runs all day long and that the clothing style is a tad different."  
"What did you think of the lessons?"  
"They're okay."  
The bus arrived and both Amylia and Jan got in.  
"I think chemistry here is a lot more fun than it was at my other school. The teacher is nicer." Amylia added.  
Jan smiled. "I have such a crush on that guy, you wouldn't believe it. Would you believe me if I told you he's already thirty-four?"  
"No way!" Amylia said, while looking for a seat.  
"Way."

Horatio slipped on his sunglasses while he left the lab building to take a small walk. This morning's case was a pretty slam-dunk one, even though the press would never believe the murder of a local celebrity would be a slam-dunk. They would probably search for any things that they'd think the police had overlooked. Conspiracies, the media was great when it came to such things. But most of the times, none of it was true.

He breathed in the fresh air. The air was saltier here in Miami than it was in New York, because Miami lay that close to sea. Horatio didn't mind that, because he had always had a thing for the ocean. Also, the more consistent breeze made the air here much cleaner than in New York. Except for the humidity, the Miami air was great for people with asthma. He wasn't one of those.

He looked at both the lab's Hummers that were parked outside the building, along with a few squad cars and the personal cars of some of the detectives and laboratory technicians.

In front of him was a star, made of grey, white and terracotta colored stone, laid in the asphalt of the road. There was always something special about it, something that made him appreciate the crime lab and its employees even more. The orange-y building and the palm trees gave it a truly Miami-look, but the star added something extra to the appearance of the whole lab.

At the beginning of the dead-end street where the lab was, was the bus stop. Horatio waited for Amylia there, hoping she would be all right.

"Your bus stop must be the next one" Jan told Amylia. Amylia nodded.  
"Yeah. I guess so."  
They fell silent, knowing what to say but neither of them wanted to say it.  
"School takes too many years" Amylia suddenly said.  
"Yeah. But if it's necessary…" Jan added.  
Again, silence fell.

Horatio noticed the bus approaching the bus stop.

Suddenly, a black car with tinted windows passed the bus. Horatio was startled but it didn't show. He slowly moved his hand to his gun.

Jan pointed at the car that passed the bus.  
"Look at that. Crazy"  
"Yeah. Wonder where he's going."

The car drove on at a ridiculous speed.

Horatio moved his hand back and took off his sunglasses to greet Amylia in a minute.

"Hey look. Your dad's waiting for you"  
Amylia pressed her face against the window and smiled. "Yes, he is. Okay. See you tomorrow, okay?"  
"Okay. Have fun!"  
"Yeah, you too, okay. Hang in there."  
"Thanks. You too."

Amylia exited the bus and walked over to Horatio.

"Hey dad. How're you?"  
"Fine. How was school?"  
"Cool. You know what Fine stands for, don't you?"  
"I do."  
"Then I hope you don't feel fine."  
Horatio smiled. "Okay. I feel good."  
"Good. So, are there any things I need to know before entering the lab?"  
"Don't touch anything unless you wear latex gloves, change these before and after you touch something, wear a lab coat when you're in the proximity of chemical substances and anything you hear or see about cases you cannot discuss with any one until I say to you that you can. Understood?"  
"Understood. So. I saw you on TV this morning."  
"Yes."  
"You hate the media, don't you?"  
"Sharks have to eat too"  
"I didn't say they don't. But you hate them, don't you?"  
"Let's just say I don't like them."  
"So you hate them"  
"Hmm. Listen, Amylia, I have to do some paper work" they reached the steps in front of the building. "You know your way around the lab. Maybe there are some small things you can do."  
Amylia nodded. "I'll take a look every where, also to get a general idea of how things work"  
"Okay. If you need me, I'll be in my office"

After a quick stop at the front desk to provide Amylia with a 'visitor' ID, their ways parted for this afternoon.

Amylia made her way to one of the labs that she knew as the Trace lab. There, she noticed someone.  
Amylia spied at the young CSI that was preparing a sample for the gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer. He was quite handsome, she thought. And of course smart, otherwise he wouldn't be working here. And way out of her league. She wondered how old he could be. About ten years older, she thought, could hardly be much more. Or could it? He could be older than twenty-eight, as she was almost eighteen. But hadn't her father married a woman twenty-two years younger than he had been, about a year ago? So relationships between people of very different ages could happen, right? Oh, she was thinking way too fast. This was useless. She entered the trace lab, as quiet as she could, on tip toes. She sneaked to the desk. She remembered the CSIs name from her last visit to the lab.  
"Hey Ryan" she said quietly. He looked up and smiled at her.  
"Hey. It's… Amylia, right?"  
Amylia nodded. "I was wondering what you're doing"  
"I'm preparing a sample for the GCMS"  
"Oh" Amylia smiled. "What is it?"  
"That's what the GCMS is going to find out"  
Amylia laughed. "I'm sorry, I know that. No, I mean; what is it from?"  
"Oh" Ryan looked at her. "Sticky substance found on the vic's hands."  
"Okay" Amylia noticed he liked talking about this kind of scientific subjects better than the small talk when she had just entered the lab. "So, how does that work, that GCMS?"  
Ryan was just about to tell her, when another voice of a person who'd also sneaked in asked a question.  
"Mr. Wolfe, what have we got?"  
Ryan and Amylia looked up to see Horatio.  
"Hey dad" Amylia said happily, although she felt a bit awkward. "Ryan was just going to tell me how that GCMS works."  
Horatio nodded and looked at Ryan, who was grabbing a sheet of paper from the printer. Amylia still felt awkward. She had tried to flirt with Ryan Wolfe, one of her father's employees, when her father had walked in. But was there any reason to feel awkward? No, right? Except for the fact that Ryan could be way older than she was.  
Was flirting wrong, in an environment as the Miami-Dade Crime Lab?

**A/N: **I have to say to all of you that the next chapter may take another week before I finished it, because I have a lot of tests coming up and I really have to learn for those...


	3. Too Fast

**Too fast**

How shocked Horatio may have been the moment he came to realize that Ryan and Amylia had been flirting, he now accepted it within. He had tried not to look too shocked when he found out, but some things just go too fast. The decade since he'd started working with Miami-Dade PD had gone by pretty fast, and in all those years he had had some contact with Amylia and her mother, but not that much. And she differed from the little girl she was a decade ago. She was pretty much grown up now. And he, Horatio, should just be glad that she apparently was attracted to men like Ryan instead of the bad boys some girls were attracted to at that age. It all seemed so recent that she went to school for the very first time…

_Little Amylia looked at her mother and father. "I don't wanna leave you alone" she whispered. Samantha, great at she was with kids, looked at the little girl and said; "I promise you something. Okay? But it's going to be our little secret. You may not tell any one. Yeah?"  
Amylia nodded, curious at what promise her mother would make. Samantha knelt down and whispered something in Amylia's ear. The look on the little girl's face brightened and she started smiling. Horatio looked at her.  
"What did she promise you?" he asked. Amylia shook her head.  
"Nooo! I'm not going to tell you, it's a secret between mommy and me."  
"Oh c'mon, you can tell me. I'm not going to tell anyone."  
"I promised mommy not to tell anyone"  
"Okay. Good girl"  
Amylia smiled. Horatio looked at Samantha.  
"What did you promise her?"  
Samantha smiled. "I promised her that if she'd be a good girl today, we'd visit you at the precinct after I pick her up from school."  
Amylia didn't hear a thing of what Samantha was telling Horatio, as she was completely hypnotized by the huge amount of kids at the school's playground.  
Horatio worried a little bit about what Samantha had promised their daughter. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea, Sam. It's always pretty busy at the precinct and what if…"  
"What if, what if" Samantha interrupted. "What if. Horatio, don't worry that much. I'll let her promise not to touch any thing. She's curious, you know that, about your job."  
"Isn't she curious about yours?"  
"Too, but less. I mean, working for the police is easier for a kid her age to understand than working for the DA's office, isn't it?"  
"Hmm" Horatio didn't answer that question, but he knew Samantha was right. "Okay."  
"And you too know that promises that we can keep always work for her. She's a very curious girl, she notices everything."  
"I'll inform CSI to hire her as soon as she finished school today" Horatio joked. Samantha laughed.  
"Come on, Horatio, I know you hate CSI for you think they have too much protocol to follow, but I have to remind you that they do solve a lot of cases. Without them, I wouldn't have a job"  
"It's not CSI I hate, it's the way they treat the detectives I hate"  
Samantha laughed again. "Oh Horatio, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd end up at CSI anyway one day. You know, you didn't study Chemistry for nothing. By the way, aren't you really late for work now?"  
Horatio looked at her. "I took the morning off to be with you."_

How was it that two people who loved each other in such a way could grow apart in a way that would force them to divorce?  
Horatio hadn't known the answer back then and still didn't today. It was – it had been stress and routine combined. Perhaps. Amylia reaching the age when she started to do things one her own without wanting any of her parents around, Samantha having lots and lots of work because the DA's office was short on staff because of budget cuts, he indulging himself in work also because of budget cuts, and then the final blow when a serial killer that went by the name of Walter Resden appeared on New York streets. A serial killer that ultimately killed the mistress of Horatio's partner and stabbed Horatio when he was at the crime scene. Wrong place wrong time or predestined?  
Any way, it didn't matter anymore. He was sure history would keep haunting him, but the minutes that he allowed himself to push it all out of his mind were a big relief.

_From one side of the desk, a man looked at him. Horatio flipped through the file while summing up which people all wanted the man behind bars. Every second, the man seemed to get calmer.  
"But do you actually have on me?" the man eventually asked. Horatio looked up and smiled at him.  
"You'd be surprised."  
There was a tap on one of the windows and both the man and Horatio looked up, only to discover a woman and a little girl standing there.  
"Stay put" Horatio added, while standing up and leaving the interrogation room. The precinct was crowded and everybody was shouting at each other, phones ringing everywhere, not a single sight of peace – except in front of him. Amylia looked at him.  
"Hi dad."  
Horatio smiled at her. "Hey Amylia. How was school?"  
"School was fun. Just the teacher couldn't pronounce my name so I told her she could call me 'Sammie', just as Tommy always does."  
Tommy was the neighbors' kid, about Amylia's age and he always called her Sammie, no matter how hard she tried to let him call her Amylia or at least Amy.  
"What have you done at school?"  
"I've drawn you and mommy!" Amylia showed him a drawing of two figures that made him think of the stick men she used to draw when she was younger.  
"Is that all you've done?"  
"Nooo. I've also – there were two boys fighting and I asked them what they were fighting about."  
"What were they fighting about?"  
"They said that I had to go away."  
"That's not very nice of them."  
"No. They're stupid. But I've made a friend. Her name is Chris- Chris-"  
"Christina" Samantha helped her.   
"Yeah. Christina. She was also new today."  
"That sounds like fun. Hey, listen, why don't you ask mommy to go to my desk and I'll be with you in a minute? Okay?"  
Amylia nodded. Horatio smiled and returned to the interrogation room.  
"Well well. That your family?" the suspect asked. Horatio looked at him.  
"They're my daughter and my wife. And now you're gonna tell me who else is involved, or there is one person I already have on speed-dial…"_

_As he had promised, about a minute later, Horatio arrived at his desk, where Samantha and Amylia were waiting for him. "Hey"  
"Hey" Samantha answered smilingly.  
"There are a real lot of police officers here!" Amylia said. Horatio nodded.  
"Indeed. And you know what?"  
"What?"  
"They all protect all of us"  
"Do they?"  
"They-"  
The sound of gunfire reached not only Horatio's ears, but also those of Amylia, Samantha and everyone in the precinct. In a blink of an eye, Horatio had ordered them to hide behind his desk, drawn his gun, walked over to the source of the gunfire and shot a junkie that was waving with a Tech-9.  
"That's why I never want you to take her here again" he later told Samantha._

Horatio looked at the pile of paperwork that was waiting for him at the corner of the desk in his office. Bureaucracy. Paperwork. Lots of it.

Amylia looked at her watch, only to see that it was already past eight and both she and Horatio hadn't had dinner yet. She quickly understood that if he wasn't walking around to check on his employees, he was probably in his office doing paperwork.

She entered. "Dad?" she asked, her voice being hardly more than a whisper. Horatio looked up.  
"Hey."  
"Hey. Listen, I know you're busy with that murder and so on, but I'm pretty much starving by now. I-" Amylia fell silent. There was something wrong. She knew it.  
"What's wrong?"  
Horatio smiled at her. "Do you remember that day that you visited the precinct after your first day of school?"  
"Of course I do. How can I forget how you shot a junkie who was walking around with a huge gun?"  
"I-" Horatio carefully picked his words. "I'm just glad you're safe."  
Amylia smiled. "I'm not worried about my safety, so you shouldn't be either. You should be more worried about your own. Judging on what I've heard today, you've been some sort of target lately."  
Now, that was something that was really true. But none of them spoke after this remark.  
"I'm sorry about what happened earlier today. I mean-" Amylia laughed uncomfortably. Normally, she would discuss this with Christina. "It's just – that Ryan Wolfe guy is very cute so I just…"  
"It's okay" Horatio comforted her.  
Amylia nodded. "Okay. Dad?"  
"Hmm?"  
"Can I invite Christina over for spring break?"  
"Uhm" Horatio looked at her. "Sure. But, take care, all right?"  
"Will do. It's not like I'm totally getting drunk every single night." Amylia laughed. "You know I don't do that."  
"There are differences between what people say and what people really do" Horatio said.  
"Dad! You have to trust me! One can be too protective and that's called overprotective."


	4. Spring Break

**Spring Break**

Just a few days later, Amylia was anxiously waiting at Miami International Airport. Next her stood Horatio, who demanded to come with her to wait for Christina. Amylia looked at her watch.  
"It's four o'clock already. The plane is fifteen minutes late."  
"She has to collect her suitcase first, Amylia" Horatio pointed out to her.  
"Perhaps. But she is still late if you'd ask me."  
Just as she said that, a 18-year old girl with brown/blonde hair came walking to them, carrying a huge suitcase.  
"Chris!" Amylia shouted. "You dyed your hair!"  
"Indeed! You like it? Some blonde strands between all the chocolate, just for spring break!" Christina shouted back at her, now hurrying. She put the suitcase down and looked at Amylia. "You look good. Got a tan, I see."  
Amylia smiled brightly. "You too look good."  
Christina looked at Horatio and then looked back at Amylia. "That your father?"  
Amylia nodded and Christina shook Horatio's hand. "Christina Stok, Mr. Caine"  
Horatio smiled a bit. "Please, call me Horatio, Christina. We've met before, in New York, when you and Amylia were only six years old."  
Christina nodded unsurely and then looked back at Amylia. "Sammie, I've to tell you sooo many things! Really, it's unbelievable. But anyway, how're things here?"  
"Things here are great. School's fun here"  
"Cool teachers?"  
"Nah. Same as up in NY. But the people are so nice. Anyway, shall we go?"  
Christina nodded and grabbed her suitcase, after which Amylia and Christina followed Horatio to silvery champagne colored vehicle.  
"No way! That a Hummer?" Christina asked.  
Amylia smiled. "Indeed. Dad will deliver us at home and then he'll go to his work at the Crime Lab."  
"Wooow" Christina sighed. "Hummers are sooo cool. Too bad they are so bad for the environment"  
"Are they?" Amylia asked. "Ah well, you know more about cars than I do. DB9 still your favorite?"  
"Nah-uh. The newest Aston. You'll probably know it as the DBS."  
"As in Casino Royale?"  
"The exact same one. Man, that's a great car. I was walking past Trump Tower the other day and there was one"  
"No way"  
"Way. But anyway. Is it true what they say about Miami?"  
"What do they say about Miami then?"  
"That it's a city to be seen in."  
"If that's true, than we're at the right place, are we?" Amylia smiled. "There's a club I wanna show you tonight."  
"No under age drinking, I hope?" Horatio asked all of a sudden. Amylia laughed.  
"No dad, I promise we'll stick to the rules and we'll stick to the law." She looked at Christina and, without sound, made the word 'Not'.  
"I saw that" Horatio said. Amylia noted the undertone in his voice, as if he tried to keep his laughter to himself. She sighed.  
"All right. We'll stick to the rules. That okay?"

"Have a seat" Amylia told Christina. Christina nodded and sat down on the couch. "You want a drink?"  
Christina nodded. "Just a coke, please. Nice place here. Nice neighborhood seems to me."  
"Well" Amylia answered from the kitchen. "Miami isn't all crime. Otherwise there'd be a constant war between criminals and police and now, it isn't war. It's a fight." She gave Christina her drink and sat down on the couch herself too. "But anyway, how're things going? How're things up in New York?"  
"I'm okay. I've been wondering – why have you stopped using the nickname 'Sammie'? I can still call you Sammie, right?"  
"Sammie reminds me of the situation before. You're one of the happy memories of before, so of course you can still call me Sammie. So, what do you think of Miami?"  
"Quite different from New York"  
"Warmer?"  
"More humid"  
Amylia smiled. "Well, yeah, that's true. Things are better this way, I suppose. But what did you mean when you said 'he'd better not find out' over the phone, couple of weeks ago, when I told you I was coming back to New York with my dad to solve my mom's murder?"  
Christina grinned. "Robert had punctured some tires."  
"There's not really any use in that, now is there?"  
"Nope. And Jason, of course, had been doing _things_."  
"Graffiti? Where?"  
"S.I.F."  
"Staten Island Ferry?"  
"Oh yes indeed."  
"Jase is whacked" Amylia smiled.  
"Hmm, I know. Some detective arrested him, by the way. They say he's a witness in a rape case. I don't believe that, he's just kidnapped by the Order."  
Amylia chuckled. "You and you conspiracy theories. The New World Order doesn't even exist."  
"Says you"  
"Says I."  
"Whatever. Where will you attend college, by the way?"  
"Up there. Chem and Forensics."  
"No way. No kidding. That's where I'll attend college too! Same subjects! But why will you go back to New York?"  
"New York still feels like my hometown. And there I can use the name 'Caine' without immediately being recognized. But anyway. What do you want to do this Spring Break?"  
"Develop the same tan that you seem to have developed over the last few weeks, swimming, shopping, spending fun time with you, visiting your dad's lab 'cause I absolutely love labs…" Christina summed up.  
"Partying?" Amylia suggested.  
"Sure! You said you wanted to show me a club tonight?"  
Amylia smiled. "Indeed. The hottest club in town, I'm acquainted to the daughter of the owner. Her name is Jan and you'll meet her there. Don't tell my father I have these connections, he doesn't know and I don't think he'll approve"  
"My lips are sealed" Christina smiled at her. "Can't wait for it!"

Horatio heard the ring of his cell phone twelve hours later, while he was working on a new case that had presented itself to him just before shift was over. "Caine" he answered. At the other side was an officer.  
"Lieutenant, this is officer Pitcher. I have two girls here who claim they know you. One of them claims to be your daughter."  
"What are their names?" Horatio asked, sincerely hoping that Amylia wasn't involved. Hoping that it was just rumor that had two totally different girls who'd heard about Amylia inspired to use this as an excuse.  
"They said to me their names were Amylia Caine and Christina Stok. The last one has an ID that also has the name 'Christina Stok' on it, but the other one has an ID that says Amylia Samantha Green."  
Horatio sighed and fell silent.  
"Lieutenant?" officer Pitcher asked.  
"Keep them there. I'll get there ASAP."

Officer Pitcher looked at both girls. "He's on his way. It's not very clever to give us a false name as we'd check your ID. If you were Lieutenant Caine's daughter, you'd know that."  
"But I AM his daughter" Amylia told him.  
"I don't believe it" Pitcher told her.  
"Well, then don't. But he'll tell you when he gets here"  
"Will he, huh? Let's see for that."  
"Officer, I'm not even the slightest bit tipsy. I had one Passoã, one!"  
"You're under twenty-one, so not allowed to drink."  
"Just let us go" Christina whined, who'd drunk only one beer.  
"I can't"  
"What I tell you is true! I am Horatio Caine's daughter and my name used to be Green when my mother was still alive and I lived up in New York but now she's dead and my name is now Amylia Caine!'  
"That's very true" a voice said. Officer Pitcher, Amylia and Christina all looked up. Horatio was standing next to the Hummer.  
"Sir?" Pitcher asked.  
"I'll take it from here" was all that Horatio said.  
"We're in deep shit" Christina whispered.  
"About a foot or an acre?" Amylia joked.  
Officer Pitcher got in his squad car and took off. Horatio looked at both girls.  
"Dad?" Amylia began carefully. "I – I've only had one Passoã. And that's all."  
"I'd told you no under age drinking" Horatio said calmly.  
"You did. But I'm almost eighteen, dad, I'm supposed to break the rules! Isn't it true that you learn the most from experience?"  
"Do you remember when you were younger, how your mother always made she promises that she'd then keep?"  
"I do, and I'm sorry I didn't keep this promise, but I'm not perfect. Things don't happen for a reason. They just happen. Us breaking promises is a proof we're experiencing what life is."  
Horatio didn't say a thing.  
"And by the way, haven't you ever broken a promise? Oh no, wait, you're perfect, you don't break promises. Isn't that true, dad?"  
"I never break promises because I only make promises that I can keep" Horatio answered. "Now, get in the Hummer."  
"No dad, we'll walk the rest of the way home too."  
"I wanna show you both something else" he said.


	5. Witnesses

**Witnesses**

Horatio entered the autopsy room with the two girls following him. It seemed as if Alexx was totally consumed by what she was doing, which was cleaning the stainless steel autopsy tables.  
"Alexx?" Horatio asked. Alexx looked up and noticed Horatio.  
"Horatio" she greeted him with a smile.  
Amylia stepped forward, knowing that was probably the politest thing to do, and offered Alexx her hand. "Amylia Caine" she introduced herself. Alexx looked at the girl.   
"Alexx Woods, medical examiner" she said.  
"This is my best friend Christina Stok" Amylia introduced her friend.  
"My daughter and Christina…" Horatio looked at Alexx, admitting her thoughts. "Have been to a club tonight. Amylia here tells me she had one Passoã, and Christina had a beer, even thought I strictly forbade them under age drinking."  
Alexx nodded and opened one of the stainless steel square doors in the wall. On the table lay a young woman, her green eyes cold and lifeless.  
"Seems about your age. She also was partying tonight, drank one drink that was spiked with GHB, then raped and murdered by strangulation." Alexx told them.  
"We don't have an ID yet" Horatio said.   
"That's awful" Christina said disgusted. "That's really a horrible murder, you know!"  
Amylia swallowed. "I know who that is." She whispered, looking in the dead girl's eyes. "Poor you" she mumbled. Alexx patted her on the shoulder.  
"Tell us, Amylia"  
"Who is it, sweetheart?" Horatio asked his daughter.   
Amylia looked at her father. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Her name is Jan Mitchell. She was the only one who was nice to me, my first day at school here"  
"Mitchell?"  
"She's the daughter of William Mitchell. The owner of Spree."  
Both Alexx and Horatio recognized the name. As did Christina.  
"The club we've been to tonight?" she asked. Amylia nodded sadly.  
"I actually saw a guy walking her to a car" she whispered. "And I didn't do a thing. I should have seen it! It's my fault!"  
Horatio walked over to his daughter and hugged her. Amylia started crying.   
"It's my fault! It's my fault!" she kept repeating, while Horatio tried to calm her down.  
"Shh…" he said. Amylia shook and inhaled, trying to breathe normally.  
"That's two already. They – it's my fault! Mom first and now Jan and I'm guilty it's my fault!" she whispered.  
"It's not your fault" Christina said. "It isn't! Why would they want to hurt you that much?"  
Horatio looked at Christina. Indeed, nobody had any reason to hurt Amylia that much. But they hurt him too, by hurting Amylia. And there were enough people who wanted to hurt him. But perhaps it was all coincidence. After all, Amylia had met Jan after Samantha had been killed, and Christina was still Amylia's best friend. So it didn't make any sense if they were after him. And there also had been enough opportunities to kill Amylia instead, which would hurt him the most. It probably was all coincidence.   
"Shh…" he said again to his daughter. "If you both tell me all that you have seen, I promise you that I will get the one who did this."  
Amylia looked at him; her face was all wet of tears. "At least you're the one to keep your promises" she mumbled.   
"No more under age drinking, I think" Alexx told Amylia and Christina. Amylia was too upset over Jan's death to say a thing, but Christina tried to smile. "I'd be totally out of my mind if I would do any more under age drinking" she told Alexx. Horatio looked at Amylia. She still seemed upset.

_Horatio and Samantha were strolling through Central Park. A few feet before them, Amylia was running and hopping and jumping over some rocks that lay on the path.  
"Make sure you don't trip honey!" Samantha called out to her daughter. Amylia turned around and looked at her mother. "I won't!"  
The little girl was now seven. Horatio felt awful if he thought of the fact that he wouldn't see her for a very long time. But it was impossible to let her travel between New York and Miami every week, he realized that. He looked at Samantha.  
"I'm really sorry things went this way" he told her.  
"Me too" she said. "We should tell her."  
"Indeed. But not now."  
"Not now" Samantha smiled at him. "You can always visit her. You know that."  
"Yeah. I think it will be better this way"  
"Yeah…" Samantha sighed. "She will be very upset. When should we tell her?"  
"Whenever she's ready"  
"Like, never? Horatio, kids are never ready for the news their parents are splitting up. And she will be bullied with all kinds of rumors."  
Horatio nodded slowly. "Very true."  
Both of them heard a thud and then crying. "Oh god" Samantha sighed. She hurried over to Amylia, who was now sitting on the ground, her hands dirty of trying to break her fall.  
"You okay sweetie?"   
Horatio looked at how Samantha wiped away Amylia tears and cleaned her hands with a Kleenex.  
"No more running, okay?"   
Amylia nodded. "Mommy? Can I go to the swings?"  
Samantha looked at Horatio and then back at Amylia. "Sure. Wait. Isn't that Christina?"  
Amylia looked in the direction Samantha was pointing at. "Chrissie!" she shouted, before running to her best friend.  
"Amylia! No running!" Samantha shouted, but Amylia ignored her.  
Samantha and Horatio sat down on a bench. A minute later, Christina's mother sat down next to Samantha.  
"Hey Sam!" she greeted her happily.  
"Hey Maura. How're things going?" Samantha asked. Both women were good acquainted.  
"Great. You wouldn't believe what I've heard today!"  
Gossip. Pure gossip. And Horatio already knew where this was going. He walked over to Amylia and Christina on the swings.  
"Hey girls" he said.   
"Hey dad!" Amylia said. "Is it true?"  
"What is true?" Horatio asked, surprised.  
"Christina said that she heard her mother say that you had a special friend."  
"I did not!" Christina shouted.  
"You did!" Amylia shouted back at her.  
"I did not!"  
"Yes you did!"  
"Shh." Horatio calmed the girls down. If there was one juicy rumor, then it was that of a dirty cop. And, when it came to family life, a cop cheating on his wife. But he hadn't. He did know where the rumor was coming from. The paper had recently published an article about a serial murderer in New York. "During the investigation, Detective Horatio Caine was stabbed in the back by an unknown person, which perhaps was the murderer. It is also said that 'one of the detectives investigating the case had an affair with the female victim'." Of course, everyone immediately suspected him of cheating on Samantha, while it had been his partner who had been cheating on his wife. "Well, girls" he continued. "Some things people say are true and some are not. That is something that is not true."  
"I told you so!" Amylia said to Christina. Meanwhile, the women on the bench had been very silent for the last couple of minutes. Horatio walked back to them. So the rumor had finally reached Samantha.   
"Sam-" he started, but Samantha wouldn't let him speak.   
"You should have told me" she said angrily.  
"I would have if it was true. I didn't."  
"You didn't. Prove me. You're the detective here"  
Horatio looked at Samantha. "That's the trouble with being married to a DA. They always need proof."  
"Don't blame this on me!" she shouted. "You cheated!"  
"I did not" he told her calmly.  
"Oh, go to hell!" she told him. "Amylia? We go home" she said to the girl who had come walking from the swings to them.  
He could only hope things would become better before he took off for Miami. Samantha would believe him soon enough.  
"No mom. I believe dad" Amylia told her, whispering. "It's a… a… a… rumor, that's what they call it, isn't it?"  
"Rumors always have the slightest bit of truth in them"  
Horatio nodded. "Yes. But it wasn't me who cheated."  
Samantha looked at him. "He – what – no – it can't have been him?" she stuttered. Horatio nodded slowly. "But let's keep that out of the press" he told her. "His wife already has enough to deal with and I'll be off to Miami very soon."  
"Why will you be off to Miami, daddy?" Amylia asked him. _

Some situations were just awkward. Horatio had come across many awkward situations in his life, but this one might have been the hardest. His daughter was a witness in a case in which a friend of her was murdered. And he didn't want to interview her in this case. He would agree on interviewing Christina, but Amylia would be too hard. He searched for one of his trusted employees, one that he knew wouldn't complain at all on interviewing Amylia.  
"Mr. Wolfe?" he asked Ryan.  
"Horatio" Ryan said. "What is it?"  
"I need you at PD to interview a witness"  
"I'll be right over. In which case?"  
"The strangled girl."  
"Who's the witness?"  
"My daughter"


	6. Rush and Rest

**Rush and Rest**

Ryan looked at the girl across the table. She looked so vulnerable. Innocent. So young. And yet, she looked strong and courageous. He sighed. Then, finally, after seconds, he started speaking.   
"Amylia?"  
Amylia looked up. She was crying. Ryan felt so sorry for her and wanted to take her pain away, and yet, he knew that was entirely up to her.  
"Amylia?" he repeated. Amylia smiled at him through her tears.  
"Hey Ryan." She whispered.   
"Amylia, please tell me what you have seen" he said. Amylia nodded.  
"Okay" she still whispered.

_Christina and Amylia left the house. Christina looked at Amylia.  
"How are we going to get there?" she asked.  
"We can walk" Amylia said. Both were dressed to party, Amylia in dark jeans and a lime green top, Christina in a white miniskirt and a white tank top.  
"I can't understand how you are able to walk the way on four inch heels" Christina complained.  
"It isn't that far. And practice makes perfect, you know that" Amylia smiled.  
"I know. But still, I have difficulties walking on two inch heels while you walk on four inch heels without any difficulties."  
"It's not like you need to walk on heels, since you are already 5 foot eleven yourself. I am only 5 foot seven, so it's no problem for me to walk on those" Amylia teased her friend. Christina always was insecure about being quite tall for a girl.  
"Shut up, Shorty" Christina laughed.  
"You too, big one. No complaints. Come on."  
They walked to the club, where a huge crowd was hoping to get in. Amylia walked past the red velvet rope and looked at the bouncer.  
"Hey Hugh. Is Jan here too?"  
Hugh the bouncer looked at both girls. "What's your name?"  
"I'm Amylia Caine" Amylia.  
"Ah" the bouncer looked at her. "Jan said you were probably coming to the club when it was Spring Break. She's not here anymore; she left with some guy"  
"How long ago?"  
"Just a minute. I think he said he would drive her home, since she wasn't able to do so anymore."  
Amylia giggled. "That's a wholly different side of Jan."  
"That's the guy's car" Hugh the bouncer pointed at a red Ford Mustang Shelby 500 GT 1966.  
"Oooh! Nice car!" Christina shrieked. "Is that a 66 Shelby?"  
"Dunno" the bouncer said. Amylia saw how the guy helped Jan get in and then he walked to the driver's side of the car and got in too.  
"What's his name?" Amylia asked.   
"Dunno that either. But Jan doesn't trust anyone that fast, so… ah well, you're holding up the line. Get in or leave" he smiled.  
"Thanks Hugh!" Amylia said. _

Ryan looked at Amylia. "A 1966 Mustang Shelby?" he asked. Amylia nodded.  
"I don't know that much about cars, Christina is the car fanatic of the two of us, but I do recognize a Ford Mustang and if she yells 66 Shelby I know that it's a 1966 Ford Mustang Shelby 500 GT, 'cause she would recognize that car immediately. Funny thing was, I recognized the car from somewhere too, if only I could remember what from…"  
"Okay" Ryan wrote this down. "Do you perhaps remember the plate number?"  
Amylia closed her eyes. "Oooh! God, I'm so stupid. I should have known to look at the plate. I should have held her back from going with that guy anyway."

Horatio was watching from behind one of the windows. She did well. He dialed a number. A second later, a familiar voice answered.  
"Delko"  
"Eric, I need to you find a bouncer called 'Hugh'"  
"Right on it, H"  
"Thank you"  
From the corner of his eye, he noticed a woman walking up to him.  
"Lieutenant?" she asked. Horatio turned around.  
He guided her into the interrogation room.   
"Amylia?"  
Amylia looked up. Her father was there, with another woman.  
"This is our forensic artist. She will draw a picture of the man you saw. Describe it to her"  
Amylia nodded.  
Horatio and Ryan left the room.  
"Horatio" Ryan began "she talked about a bouncer named 'Hugh'"  
"Yes…" Horatio said "I put Eric on that."  
"What are we going to do?"  
"We…" Horatio looked at Ryan. "Are going to interview Christina." 

Amylia described the guy she had seen to the forensic artist who had introduced herself as 'Jacqueline Callum'.  
"His hair was light, blonde probably" she said. "It was quite dark outside the club, so I didn't have that good a look at his face, but he was about a year or thirty-five, I'd say."  
Jacqueline Callum listened to everything Amylia told her and meanwhile drew the picture.  
"Is this how he looks like?" she finally asked. Amylia looked at the drawing.  
"About that. Only his nose was… longer, I think. And his eyes were not this close together. For the rest, I'd say he looks just like the guy I'd seen… Wait." Amylia got on her feet and walked out of the interrogation room, leaving Jacqueline behind. She ran through the corridors of PD, looking for the room in which Horatio and Ryan would be. She found them, interviewing Christina. Without knocking, she barged in. Horatio, Ryan and Christina looked up.  
"I know who was the one who took Jan with him in his car!" she said. "His name is Kevin Gaillard. He-" she looked at Horatio. "He's my Chemistry teacher."  
"That figures why Jan would trust him and how he could get GHB" Ryan mumbled.  
Horatio, on the other hand, didn't say a thing. So this Kevin Gaillard, his daughter's Chemistry teacher, had done this to a friend of his daughter? Horatio wasn't angry that fast, but this came very close to anger. He got on his feet and looked at Ryan.  
"Mr. Wolfe, stay here and get me back-up. I will pick him up myself. Amylia…" he looked at his daughter. Concerned. Glad she was still okay. "Amylia, I want you to stay here with Christina. Ryan will stay here too, to make sure you both will be okay"  
Amylia nodded. Ryan looked at the girls. Talk about confusion. One side of him wouldn't want to miss the excitement of arresting a person who dared doing that, the other side of him didn't mind staying with Amylia and her friend at all.

Horatio rushed out of PD, jumped into one of the Hummers and was soon being followed by a couple of squad cars who raced with him to the address of Kevin Gaillard.

Ryan took the girls to the break room of PD, for them to calm down a little of all the excitement of the evening and for himself to get a deserved cup of coffee.  
"Do you want something to drink?" he asked the girls. Amylia shook her head, Christina nodded.  
"Just some water, please" she said.

A few minutes later, the three of them were in a conversation that led from one scientific subject to the other. Two girls wanting to study Chemistry and Forensics and a Crime Lab employee have the tendency to take that as a conversation subject.  
"You still haven't explained how that GCMS works" Amylia said, blushing a bit, remembering her behavior the previous time she had talked about science with Ryan Wolfe. She hoped he hadn't minded her behavior that time. Ryan smiled and explained it.  
"Seems like we still have a lot to learn" Christina smiled.  
"Yeah" Amylia sighed. "I wish we would have been able to go to college with the three of us. I mean Jan, you and me of course. I'm sure you would have liked her"  
Christina patted her friend on the back. "It's the most important YOU liked her. And we'll have fun together too"  
Amylia tried to smile. "I know. It's just… I feel so guilty."  
"That's called survivor guilt" Christina said.   
"No, it's not. I haven't survived it, but I just should have helped Jan" Amylia corrected.  
"Horatio is bringing him in as we speak" Ryan said, after having read a text message on his cell phone. Amylia looked at him.  
"That doesn't bring Jan back"  
"No, it doesn't, but it does prevent Gaillard from hurting other girls the same way" Christina said.  
Amylia nodded. "Yeah. I guess so." She stared in the emptiness in front of her.

Again, Ryan noticed how sad she looked. He wished he could help her. Since he couldn't bring back Jan, he just grabbed her hand. Amylia looked at their hands and then looked at Ryan and smiled.  
"Thanks" she whispered. Ryan just smiled back.  
"No problem" he whispered.   
Amylia rested her head on his shoulder. She was so tired. Exhausted.  
Ryan felt how Amylia rested her head on his shoulder and just accepted the situation. He couldn't help the fact that a smart and beautiful young woman, who happened to be his boss' daughter, rested her head on his shoulder. He didn't mind it, anyway.

Christina smiled at the two. If she hadn't known better, she'd have said they'd known each other for ages. Well, some signs are good signs, some signs are bad signs. This was a good sign. For them.

Amylia opened one eye and looked at Christina, who sat next to her with a smirk on her face. Amylia just smiled and closed her eyes again. Perhaps it was turning out right anyway.


	7. Comforting on a Cemetery

**Comforting on a Cemetery**

It had now been a week since Jan's murder. Amylia had put Christina on a plane back to New York this morning, and she now felt alone. But satisfied. And pretty sad, too. The head stone in front of her read:

Janine Mitchell

August 9, 1989 – April 4, 2007

Beloved daughter, sister and friend.

"_You were taken away from us too soon."_

Just a few days ago, Jan had been buried. Spring Break would be over in a few more days, but it hadn't been the light break Amylia had hoped for it to be. But the time that was coming would be really though. Doing exams without Jan's usual support. Half the school would probably know what really happened, since not only Jan was gone, but the Chemistry teacher too, and both Amylia's and Christina's name had been in the papers, so the other half of the school would probably think they had a hand in Jan's death.

"Amylia?" she heard the surprise in the voice that called for her. She turned around and blushed slightly.  
"Hey Ryan" she said, embarrassed for her mascara was probably smeared all over her face. She got on her feet.  
"I miss her so much" she excused for her appearance. Ryan looked around.  
"This is a beautiful cemetery" he noticed. Amylia nodded.  
"Yeah. She deserves it. She always was so nice to me; I really don't know how to handle school after this. She supported me, was the only person who was nice to me my first day. I really cannot handle school without her" a tear rolled down her cheek.

Ryan felt so sorry for this girl, this young woman, who was so innocent and so kind all of them. He was sure she could handle school perfectly without any help, but he doubted if she could handle Jan's death too without any help. He raised his hand and wiped away some of Amylia's tears and some of the smeared mascara.

Amylia looked at him and sighed. "I just wish this never had happened."

Ryan gathered his courage and hugged her, not caring about the tears and mascara leaving stains on his shirt. Having Amylia in his arms was the most important now.

Amylia felt warm and comfortable in Ryan's embracement. As if it had always belonged to be this way. She didn't have one single clue on long they just stood there that way, but she knew for sure she wished for this to be this way forever. To always be in Ryan's arms, he comforting her. When she finally found back her voice, she looked at his face; her own covered in tears, his in a caring and perhaps loving expression.  
"I don't know what love is, but if it is what I think it is, then I love you, Ryan" she whispered, hardly loud enough for him to hear.

Oh, how much did he want to tell her how much he loved her. But he couldn't. Morality. She was only seventeen, still a minor, still so very young, and his supervisor's daughter. But what held Ryan back the most was his fear that this would totally mess up his life, that this would let him make a one-eighty degree turn on his path. It already had him make the turn, it had already messed up his life, and he only didn't yet realize it.  
"I-" he began, but he couldn't end his sentence. He just couldn't.  
"It's okay" Amylia mumbled. "I understand"  
Ryan smiled. "Amylia, may I ask you out for a drink?"

Horatio was getting worried over Amylia, lately. She seemed so distracted. Of course it was hard for an almost eighteen-year-old girl to lose her mother and one of her friends in such a short amount of time, but he was still worried over her. Though he would never, ever send her to a therapist. After all, she had him to talk to and if she needed professional help, she had enough sense of responsibility to ask for help.

He hesitated for a moment and then knocked on her bedroom door.  
"Come in" it sounded muffled. Annoyed. Or? Horatio opened the door and Amylia quickly entered some empty messages in the MSN conversation window. She looked at him.  
"Hey"  
"Hey"  
"I was talking to Christina" she explained. She then entered the sentence 'how's the weather at yours?' probably a coded sentence for 'parent in close proximity to screen'.  
"Okay. Listen, Amylia…" he paused. "I have to go to work now. Call me if anything bothers you."  
"I will"  
Horatio glanced at Amylia's whiteboard, on which she occasionally wrote down important things, before leaving the room.

_**Today: Drinks!!!**_

Horatio turned around and looked at his daughter. "Are you going out tonight?"  
Amylia smiled at him. "Yeah. But – only if that's okay with you."  
"Who is the person you're going out with?"  
"Some guy I know" Amylia answered vaguely. Somehow, she didn't want her father to know it would be with Ryan.  
"With who?"  
Amylia sighed. "Someone trustworthy, dad. I know what I'm doing. No under age drinking, only accept drinks from trustworthy people I know pretty well and I won't go home with people I don't know."

Clearly, she wasn't going to tell him one single thing. Horatio accepted this only half, but still told her to "take care" and left.

"I always take care" Amylia mumbled. "After all, I'm not dead yet" she added whispering. Wow. How such a simple sentence could make you feel so cruel. Ah well. Time to get prepared for drinks with Ryan Wolfe.

**A/N: **I'm sorry for it being this short. I promise to make the next chapter extra long!


	8. Drinks

**Drinks **

Dressed in a petrol blue skirt and a white silk blouse, Amylia was sitting on a bar stool. She already had been here for ten minutes, but then again, she had been fifteen minutes early. She felt so excited, but also slightly worried. What if she'd bump into someone from school tonight? Although – she could always say it had to do with Jan's death.  
Ugh, who was she kidding here? Why would she have to lie about her and Ryan having a very close relationship at the very least?  
Although, close… she hardly knew anything about him. The bartender looked at her.  
"You want a drink, missy?"  
Amylia immediately recognized the bartender's accent as being New York and without being aware of it, her reply was in an unmistakable New York accent too.  
"Not yet" she smiled. "When he arrives, ask again."  
"Seems he's pretty late"  
"No" Amylia laughed. "I'm just way too early."  
"Make it a Bacardi límon, and what do you want, Amylia?"  
Surprised, Amylia turned around. "Ryan! Hey. Uhm… make it a soda water for me, please." Her accent faded as soon as it had appeared. The bartender nodded and Ryan sat down on the stool next to Amylia.  
"How are you?"  
"I'm okay. You?"  
"I'm fine"  
Amylia hesitated for a moment and then decided not to ask him if he knew what fine stood for. She looked at him. "There's this new movie in the theater. Black Book. Have you heard of it?"  
"Hmm, no, actually not. What is it about?"  
"I don't know that much about it, but it's set during World War Two and there's this woman in the resistance and she infiltrates in a group of Germans and finally falls in love with one of the German big shots."  
"Oh, I know which movie you mean. Have you ever seen The Day After Tomorrow?"  
"Yeah. I think it's crap. The special effects are awesome and some parts of the story are great, but most of it is so cliché" Amylia sighed.  
"Hmm. I think they got the results back too quickly." Ryan said.  
"Indeed!" Amylia replied. "Right, you're so right." She took a sip of her soda water. She smiled and looked at Ryan. "So, Ryan Wolfe, are there things I need to know about you?"  
"What would you like to know?"  
"Uhm…" Amylia laughed. "Okay, simple question to start my inquiry with; what's your favorite color?"  
"Green" he smiled.  
"Oh! Green's a nice color. Used to be my surname for eleven years. But, how cliché, red's my favorite color"  
"Why is that cliché?"  
"'Cause all young girls adore pink and when they grow older, it either stays pink or becomes a shade of red. Until it's red, black or purple."  
Ryan looked at her. "Perhaps you're right, but I think you're an unique person"  
Amylia blushed. "You think so?" she asked shyly. Ryan nodded.  
"I do"  
"That's so sweet of you" she mumbled. Ryan took a sip of his Bacardi.  
"I'm not being sweet" he stated. "I'm just being honest"  
Amylia's face now turned a cherry-like shade of red. "Stop it, Ryan. You're being too nice to me"  
Ryan silently obeyed her wish and listened to the soft jazzy music playing. He recognized the song from something, but what?

Ryan still hadn't figured out the name of the song when Amylia suddenly shrieked a little. He looked at her, startled.  
"What is it?"  
Amylia pointed at a woman in a corner, who drank a lonely cup of coffee.  
"I recognize her from pictures in my dad's home"  
Ryan recognized the woman too. He hadn't seen her for quite a while. Many rumors about her circled, one of them being that she had been abducted or whatever. Anyhow, it was for sure Horatio knew more about the matter and it was clear that he hadn't told Amylia one thing about it.  
"Her name is Yelina Salas. She used to be a detective" he explained.  
"Oh, right" Amylia nodded. "She's my dad's sister in law, if I recall that right. Makes her my aunt, I guess."  
"You wanna say hi to her?"  
"Nah-uh." Amylia shook her head. "I don't even know her that well."

Amylia smiled at the thought of being here. She WAS here. Together with one of the sweetest men in the world.  
Ryan emptied his Bacardi and noticed Amylia's dreamily smile. He smiled at her.  
Finally, he remembered the name of the song.  
'Straighten up and fly right' was the title.  
Yeah. He should do what he had to do. The song that was now playing was Norah Jones' 'Come away with me'.  
Amylia slowly rocked from one side to another, taking in all of the song, her eyes closed.  
"You like this song?" he asked. Amylia opened her eyes. Ryan had forgotten how brilliantly blue they were.  
"I do" she said.  
Did he dare to? Maybe. Straighten up and fly right, right? He gathered his courage again and looked at Amylia.

Amylia was touched by the loving expression on his face and could only whisper 'I'd love to' when he asked her to dance.

Yelina looked up from her cup of coffee and noticed two young people in a close embracement. Didn't he use to be the newest CSI before she took off to Brazil? Ryan Wolfe? He was him, right? She didn't know the girl but it was absolutely clear they loved each other. Well, at least Ryan dared to make a move for the person he loved. A painful, frustrated feeling rushed through her veins. She never seemed to be able to find someone decent. Raymond had been horrible to her and Rick had been abusive. There was Horatio indeed, but he seemed too damn scared to do anything and she now started to doubt if her really felt anything that wasn't responsibility for her. She felt bitter. Screw it. She would pay him a visit soon, she decided at the very moment.

Ryan let go of Amylia and looked at her. He now knew it for sure.  
"I love you, Amylia" he whispered to her.  
"I love you too, Ryan" she replied. She smiled and enjoyed the atmosphere of care and love. Amylia stretched herself and kissed Ryan on the cheek.

Ryan was surprised by this sudden move and looked at her. He smiled at her. He then place a soft kiss on her lips. He, Ryan Wolfe, had officially fallen in love with Amylia Caine. His supervisor's daughter. If that didn't complicate things… When he let go of her, she whispered a soft 'thank you'. He was touched by her innocence, but knew it was time to sit down again.  
"Do you want another drink?"  
She silently nodded.

The atmosphere had changed. And both Amylia and Ryan couldn't care less. The atmosphere had traveled all the way from friendly to lovely and there was no turning back.

None of them wanted to turn back.

The only question that remained was how they were going to inform Horatio they were going out.

Ah well. It would turn out good eventually, they were convinced of that.

After all, what's to say against true love? Who shall forbid it?

Amylia stared in the empty space in front of her. There was no doubt possible that she now knew a heck of a lot more about Ryan, and she knew that they had developed an unbreakable bond.  
"Love, sweet love, what's to say against you?" she mumbled. She felt tired. But happy.

Ryan was convinced of the fact that he and Amylia would stay together for a long time. Just how long, he didn't know and didn't want to think about. Carpe diem, right?  
He looked at Amylia. "Shall I bring you home?" he asked.  
Amylia smiled shyly. "If it's not too much effort, please do" she mumbled. Ryan nodded and got on his feet. He offered Amylia a hand to help her off the bar stool and demanded to pay the drinks.  
"Don't!" Amylia told him. "I won't let you. Let's split"  
"No" Ryan insisted. "I asked you out so I will pay"  
"I can't convince you, can I?"  
"Nope"  
"Fine" Amylia sighed. She then laughed. "Oh god, hear us. Arguing over who's going to pay"  
Ryan smiled. "I am"

The house was all covered in darkness. The streetlights were the only sources of light and they gave the house an orange hue, but Amylia immediately sensed something was off the minute Ryan parked his car on the driveway. She looked at him.  
"Ryan…" she began. He looked back at her.  
"I noticed" they both looked at the door that was open for perhaps an inch. Then, Amylia noticed the beam of a flashlight behind one of the windows.  
"Burglars" she whispered. Ryan nodded, opened the car door and got out of the car. He drew his gun and looked at Amylia.  
"Stay here"  
"No" Amylia said. "I'll be coming with you."

**A/N: **Okay, so it's again as long as the first chapters and not longer, which I had promised, but there's been a major development, I hope that makes things all right… lol I seem to have a thing for the song 'Straighten up and fly right', don't I? Ah well it's a beautiful song so who cares…


	9. Family Matters

**Family Matters**

Ryan looked at the stubborn seventeen-year-old and knew he didn't have a choice.  
"Okay" he said "But stay behind me".  
Amylia nodded and got out of the car too. She followed Ryan to the house, on tiptoes.

Ryan slowly opened the door. On tiptoes he sneaked in, his gun pointing at the room where the flashlight beam was coming from. Amylia followed him. Somehow, this felt pretty exciting. Or at least she was excited. She tried to make not a sound.  
"Beware of that doorstep" she whispered to Ryan. "It creaks."  
Ryan nodded and turned around the corner, pointing his gun in the room behind the doorframe. It was empty. Or at least, no burglars in there. Though Amylia did notice something.  
"This is my room" she whispered. "And those bastards took my laptop!"

How did they dare to take her laptop? Amylia hated the burglars even more now. She spent half her time on that laptop, all important things for school were on it, everything that was even the smallest bit of value to her when it came to documents was on it.

Ryan nodded and moved over to another room, which was also cleared soon and then they moved to the living room. Two men wearing black, carrying a bag, were trying to make their way trough an open window.  
"Miami-Dade Police" he shouted.  
"Shit!" one of the burglars said and he quickly fled. The other one looked at Ryan, paralyzed. Then he too fled through the window. Ryan shot him in the leg.

Amylia was startled by the gunshot, but soon looked at Ryan.  
"I think we have to call Horatio now, don't we?" she asked. Ryan nodded slowly.

Oops. This was never supposed to happen. But Amylia was pretty sure she had locked the door before leaving.

"This is now a crime scene" Ryan said to her. She nodded.  
"Yeah. We should go outside." Amylia grabbed her cell phone from her purse and looked at Ryan. "I'll call him. It'd be pretty weird if you'd call him about a burglary that took place here. He might get weird thoughts." She laughed, partly because she was relieved the burglars were gone, partly insecure about what Horatio would say.

Horatio was just locking his office when his cell phone rang. The display said Amylia was calling him. What could be wrong? Wasn't she out for drinks with someone? Or was there nothing wrong and was she just calling him?

Amylia and Ryan stood on the grass in front of the house, making sure they didn't disturb anything more than they already had.

Horatio accepted the call.  
"Horatio" he said.  
"Hey, it's me"  
"I know"  
"Yeah. Something has happened."  
Okay. So this needed some questioning. "What happened?"  
"Well, I – I was brought home from drinks and then we noticed flashlights and the door was open so we went in and noticed burglars and they fled and he shot them in the leg and now they're gone and they stole my laptop and some other things!" His daughter sounded pretty scared. Horatio knew he had to calm her down.  
"Calm down, sweetie. I'll come over. But – you went into the house? Have I never told you to wait for the police?"

Amylia giggled a little insecure. "Yeah, well… come over and you'll know that the police was already here" she looked at Ryan and ended the conversation. "I'm going to have to explain it" she said.  
"No." he said. "WE are going to explain it."

Yelina paid for her coffee and left. She had made a decision. She would visit him tonight. After all, they hadn't seen each other in ages and she wanted to see him, knowing that he might wanted to see her too.

Horatio left the lab and got into one of the Hummers. He would first take a look at his house that was now a crime scene, before calling in the other CSIs if that was even necessary. It was Ryan's day off, and he didn't want to disturb Calleigh, who was working on some cases in the Ballistics lab. Eric and Natalia were both involved in another case, so he didn't want to call them in either. And although he hardly did any lab work lately, nor any crime scene investigation, just supervising, he still hadn't lost his skills so he could process a crime scene on his own, he was pretty sure of that.

He was only the smallest bit surprised to find Ryan together with Amylia at his home. Somehow, he had already guessed that she'd be out for drinks with him. After all, they apparently liked each other a lot and it had been Ryan's day off. And Amylia had told him over the phone that the police was already here. Indeed. Horatio got out of the Hummer and looked at both.  
"Mr. Wolfe" he greeted the CSI.  
"Horatio" Ryan said, looking a bit nervous.

Uh-oh. Amylia was pretty scared this would turn out wrong. Maybe it wouldn't, but she still felt she should say something.  
"Dad" she said to Horatio. He looked at her. "Dad" she repeated. "I- I…" oh shoot. What was she going to say?  
The three of them fell silent, Amylia embarrassed for not knowing what to say, Ryan nervous for Horatio's reaction and Horatio awaiting Amylia's comment.  
Ryan reached for Amylia's hand and squeezed it a little.  
"Horatio?" a voice that was familiar to Horatio sounded. Now he was really surprised. Horatio turned around and looked right in the chocolate brown eyes of a Latina woman.  
"Yelina" he said. She smiled.  
"What happened?" she asked, referring to Ryan and Amylia.  
Amylia took a step forward and offered Yelina a hand.  
"Amylia Caine" she introduced herself.

Yelina looked at Horatio. He slowly nodded.  
"She's my daughter, from New York. From when I was married to Samantha"  
Yelina understood. "You sent me a few letters trying to explain things back then"  
"I did"  
Yelina tried to smile and looked at Amylia and Ryan holding hands, absorbed in their own conversation.  
"They make a cute couple" she said. Horatio looked at them, too, and then looked back at Yelina.  
"They do. But Ryan must understand she is still a minor"  
"I think he does understand that. He seems so sweet to her, don't you think? And love doesn't understand the concept of age, does it?"  
For once, Horatio couldn't think of a reply to this very true one-liner that could be of his own thoughts, if the situation hadn't been this way, and admitted this by jumping to another subject.  
"How's Ray?"  
"He's fine. We're fine." She said. There was something about the way she said it that made Horatio wonder something.  
"Who found out, Yelina?" he asked seriously. She looked him in his bright blue eyes and knew she just couldn't lie.  
"Rick knows we're back in Miami" she whispered. Horatio nodded.  
"Let me worry about him. But right now I have a crime scene to process. Mr. Wolfe?"  
The two men collected their kits, Horatio from the Hummer, Ryan from his own car. They then entered the house.

Amylia walked over to Yelina.  
"This makes us family, doesn't it?" Amylia asked to break the ice. Yelina looked at the young woman.  
"Apparently. I think you have much more family than you're aware of" Yelina warned her. "My-" she took a deep breath. "My now dead husband had quite an eye for the women."  
"Did he?" Amylia smiled. "Don't worry, I'm from New York. Takes some really pretty stupid things to surprise me."  
"Well, some pretty surprising things are being said about the Caine-family and as always, truth is much weirder than reality".  
"Yeah, well, I don't think anything in the coming couple of years can surprise me" Amylia said, stubborn as she was.  
"So it seems" Yelina said absently-minded. Amylia laughed, guessing perfectly right what Yelina was thinking about.  
"Don't think I didn't see it. 'Cause I saw it. Just takes a push in the right direction." She said. "Some men just need more than one push"  
Yelina just nodded, consumed by her thoughts.

Horatio swabbed the blood droplets while Ryan photographed the window through which the burglars had left.  
"Horatio" Ryan started. "I really like Amylia"  
Horatio looked at the young CSI. On duty, this CSI was his responsibility. Perhaps not professionally, but Horatio felt it that way. He felt that way about all his CSIs. Amylia was his daughter, and all her life, she would be at least partly his responsibility. He felt this that way. Perhaps this would turn out right. No, it just would. No perhaps, no maybe. It would turn out just fine.  
"It's okay" he said. It's all right, yes, all right. No worries. No needless insomnia. Horatio now just had to worry about Yelina. He smiled to himself and got back to swabbing the scene. Some things just never changed. One of those things was the peace between two CSI processing a scene of a crime.

**A/N: **If you're wondering whether this is the end, it's not. I just wanted a decent ending for this chapter, a chapter that was quite important to me…


	10. Like Father, Like Daughter

**A/N: **I sincerely apologize for not having posted anything for quite some time. I don't want to make up any excuses, 'cause there aren't any that will do, I just hope you will all accept my humble apologies and forgive me…

**Like Father, Like Daughter**

Peas and carrots. Amylia gazed, over the steam that was coming from her plate, at her father. She hated peas and carrots. How many times had she already told him she hated peas and carrots? Must already be millions of times. And how many times would she have to tell him again? He always seemed to forget it.  
Tomorrow would be Saturday. Her day off, while he had to go to work. Sometimes she was sure the work at the Miami-Dade Crime Lab demanded too much of him, while other times she knew he couldn't live without it. Putting a murderer behind bars was what kept him alive, while the sorrow of the victims drowned his own sorrow. Because he surely had experienced a lot of sorrow, she knew now. A lot of unresolved traumas, too, probably. This much she knew for sure. And he still obviously thought he could drown his own sorrow by caring about other's, he still hadn't found out that blocking out all sorrow multiplied it by ten or a hundred each time he did so. The more he tried to hid his emotions from her, the more she was aware of them, and the more she tried to figure out about him, the more he tried to hide from her. The silence was uncomfortable, heavy, and Amylia felt she couldn't speak the words she desperately wanted to say out loud. So the silence remained untouched, kept in honor by those who felt the urge to speak but never dared to.

Horatio looked at his daughter, while he ate his peas and carrots in silence. Something was off, and he knew it was off, but she wasn't one to tell someone about it. And certainly not him. She was one of those who'd rather have the pain beating up her soul than telling someone something was wrong. Too scared she would pass the pain over to others. He knew she hated peas and carrots more than anything eatable in the world (except for fish, probably) but he had served it to get her to tell him what was going on. It had worked before, years ago, at the ages of five and seven. Twice. Twice something had been so off that she hadn't wanted to tell him or Samantha. But if it had worked before, why wouldn't it work now?

_Samantha was at the DA's office, working on what she called 'the murdercase of the year', while Horatio and little Amylia were home alone, left with a wide variety of canned vegetables. It wasn't that Horatio couldn't cook (on the contrary), it was that Horatio too had been working on 'the case of the year', a different one though, and he now was too tired to prepare a dinner using fresh vegetables. After all, this would mean he had to go out and buy fresh vegetables, wash them, cut them up in little pieces and boil them. Now he only had to open the can and boil it. __In fact, all he now had to do was boil it because Amylia loved to open cans. Somehow, she had developed a strange love for using the can opener when it was needed to. Maybe this was something all seven-year olds loved to do, opening cans with a can opener. Still, canned vegetables were a lot healthier than ordering Chinese or a pizza. It had now been two-and-a-half hours since Amylia got home from school and in these two-and-a-half hours she hadn't said a word. She hadn't even answered the standard-question of 'what have you learned at school today, sweetie?', a question she always loved to answer in a long monologue about the marvelous things that happen in the second grade of elementary school. All she had done was sitting on the couch, watching people passing by on the street. She hadn't even taken the smallest sip from her drink.  
"Amylia?" Horatio asked in the most careful way. She ignored him completely. "What do you want for dinner? Shall I open a can of peas and carrots?"  
She still pretended to ignore him, but she moved a bit.  
"I'm afraid I will have to open this can of peas and carrots all by myself" he said.  
"I hate peas and carrots" she mumbled. Horatio tried not to smile and grabbed the can opener from a drawer. "What did you say, sweetie?" he asked. Amylia moved and looked at him in a strange manner. She was staring at the floor and at the same time, she was staring at him. Horatio couldn't hold back his smile when he finally recognized it as some sort of copy of the way he used to look at suspects. Trying not to reveal too much in his gaze, while still looking at them. But she had never seen him interrogate a suspect before, so perhaps it was something genetic or even instinctive behavior.  
"Nothing" she mumbled.  
"Hmm. I thought I did hear something."  
"Daddy, I don't like peas and carrots."  
"What do you want for dinner then?"  
"I dunno. What about salad?"  
Lettuce. Fresh vegetables. Okay, so at least she wasn't one of those kids who constantly want fast food. But he really wasn't in the mood to go out to buy vegetables. Ah well, he would do it for her.  
"Okay. Salad. But only if you tell me what is wrong."  
"Nothing is wrong!" she finally jumped off the couch and grabbed her drink.  
"There is, sweetie. You've been staring out the window for the whole afternoon."  
"There is nothing wrong"  
"Peas and carrots it is, then"  
"No." she put down her drink and looked at him. "Salad."  
"Okay. Tell me."  
Amylia sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oliver was teasing me today. He said I was stupid and he thought I had a stupid ponytail and then I said that you work for the police and then he said a lot of stupid things about the police and then miss Skye took both of us apart and blamed me. She said I did it because I had destroyed Oliver's painting."  
"Had you destroyed Oliver's painting, then?"  
"No!" Amylia looked at him. "I have accidentally spilled some water over it, but that was all I did. But Oliver immediately said to miss Skye that I had done it on purpose. I really didn't do anything, daddy!"  
"I know you didn't."  
"You believe me, but miss Skye doesn't. She thinks I was jealous of Oliver's painting. He can't even paint!"  
"What had he painted?"  
"A tree"  
"And what had you painted?"  
Amylia looked away for a moment. "I painted you and mommy."  
"And why does miss Skye thinks you're jealous of Oliver's painting?"  
"Because she blames me and not him!"  
Horatio smiled at his daughter. "You know what? Tomorrow, when Oliver is not around, you go to miss Skye and tell her your side of the story. I am sure she will be happy that you are being honest to her."  
Amylia nodded. "Thank you daddy."  
Horatio hugged his daughter. "No problem. What do you say if we go buy some lettuce for the salad now?"_

Amylia pushed her untouched plate aside. "Can I be excused?" she asked. Horatio looked at her.  
"No."  
Amylia sighed and rolled her eyes. "Very well. You think there is something off. Otherwise you wouldn't have served me peas and carrots."  
"I do."  
"And what if I tell you there is nothing off?"  
Horatio picked his words very carefully. If he would tell her straight away that he didn't believe that, she wouldn't tell him anything ever again. If he would tell her something too far away from the truth, same effect. "If you tell me there is nothing off, I will keep asking until I find out what is going on."  
"So you don't believe me?"  
Yikes. Hopefully this could be turned in the right direction again. She definitely wasn't the girl she used to be anymore. "Didn't say that. I just think that something is bothering you."  
"Well, there is a lot bothering you, I can see that too, and do you hear me asking what is off?"  
How come she acted this hostile? She never acted this hostile, did she? Maybe there was a simple biological explanation to the hostility, but he knew there was definitely something more to it.  
"I have pizza in the freezer."  
"That's not going to work this time" Amylia picked up her fork and knife and stuffed her mouth with peas and carrots. She swallowed and looked at her father. "See? I will eat it if I get hungry. So doesn't work on me anymore."  
Horatio thought for a moment. What had Amylia experienced the last days that could upset her? The burglary, meeting Yelina, her, well, 'thing' with Ryan (he really didn't dare to call it something else). What else? Ah yes. Yelina and Amylia had talked while he and Ryan investigated the burglary. Something in that conversation might have upset her. Or?  
"What did you and Yelina talk about, the other night, when Mr. Wolfe and I were investigating the scene?"  
It sounded as if he jumped to another subject. But both knew perfectly well what he was trying. And Amylia decided this might be the right time to ask.  
"Dad? Miss Salas told me that I might have much more family than I am aware of. What did she mean?" She closed her eyes when she realized how stupid that sounded. "Okay, of course I know what that means. But what kind of relatives did she mean?"  
Horatio grabbed one of her hands. "I'm not going to lie to you. Yelina has a son, Ray jr.. He's a few years younger than you are. All perfectly fine, he's my nephew, your cousin, my brother's and sister-in-law's son. But there's an illegitimate cousin, Madison. My brother's daughter. My niece."  
"How old is she?"  
A quick calculation told Horatio that she was going on nine. He couldn't believe the amount of time he hadn't seen both Madison and Susie.  
"Almost nine."  
"That's a nice age." Amylia fell silent for a moment. "When she told me, I thought I couldn't be surprised nor bothered because of it. Apparently, I could. Are there any more surprises coming up?"  
Horatio smiled at her. "Not that I know of. And if they come up, we can face them together."  
Amylia nodded slowly. "Have you ever seen Silence of the Lambs?" she suddenly asked.  
"Yes, I have. Why?"  
"Quid pro quo. Give and take. What is bothering you the most at the moment. Maybe you can tell me." Amylia smiled. Horatio looked at her. He knew she was perfectly right. There was no use in keeping everything to himself if he asked someone much like him to share the things that bothered this person. "Okay. It's something I haven't told anyone before…"


	11. Secrets

**Secrets**

"_It's something I haven't told anyone before"_

Amylia looked at her father. He paused after this sentence, waiting for her to respond.  
"Go on" was all she told him.  
"I haven't even told your mother about this. In fact, she was the one affected by this."

_A terrible head ache was making Horatio Caine feel like his head was about to explode as he exited the subway station. Migraine. The bright lights of the city of New York hurt his eyes as he walked home, hoping that the__ kid was asleep now. She was five years old now, the kid, his and Samantha's daughter Amylia, and although he had a weak spot for children, he couldn't really handle such thing right now. Not with the migraine the stress had brought. There were a lot of stress factors around lately, his boss being one of them, the case another. The year was nineteen-ninety-four, and somehow he knew stress would get a whole new meaning soon. He avoided bumping into people he possibly knew by walking close to the buildings that marked the long end of the sidewalk. A sudden tug on his coat sent a flash of pain through his whole body and he shivered while he looked at who was tugging his coat.  
The man was wearing a dark-colored suit, covered by a typical New York raincoat. Horatio knew this man meant serious business. He forced a neutral look on his face and looked at the man who introduced himself as;  
"Special Agent Sackheim, FBI"  
"Detective Horatio Caine, NYPD" Horatio mumbled, hoping this would do.  
"I know" Sackheim told him. "Listen, Caine. Your wife, Samantha-"  
"What about her?"  
"She is now handling a case about a young man named Michael Riggins."  
"The young man who used to sent threatening letters to the paper?"  
"The one and only. He has ties to a very dangerous organization that has some of it's roots in the US."  
If it had been seven years later, Horatio would have immediately known this concerned Al-Qaida. But 1994 was clearly pre-9/11 and Al-Qaida was hardly known to anybody who did not work in a high position for the US government.  
"Yes, I think Samantha is indeed handling that case" Horatio answered dryly.  
"We need him out of jail. What is she trying to get him convicted on?"  
"I wouldn't know." Horatio answered, hoping he could go home now. He really needed an Ibuprofen or two now and lots of rest.  
"Find out. Copy the files she has on him."  
"Not in a million years. You're going to have to ask her yourself if you really want that. I am not going to break her trust in me."  
"Too bad, Caine, 'cause you don't have a choice."  
"Don't I?"  
"You don't. Or else"  
"Or else what?"  
"Or else we're afraid that we may have to send Child Protective services to your home to take little Amylia away from you."  
"You wouldn't. On what grounds?"  
"Don't you know that we have a very vivid imagination at the Bureau?"  
Horatio fell silent and slowly nodded. From now on, he declared he hated the FBI.  
"Can I go home now?"  
"Sure. Just don't forget to find out. I'll drop by on the precinct one day or another" Sackheim grinned and walked off, leaving Horatio just standing on the sidewalk. The clouds that had been threatening to burst all day long now did burst and rain fell down, on the passers-by, on the sidewalk, the cars in the street, the houses, and Horatio Caine. He knew he didn't have a choice. The rain fell down on his head like tiny little ice pellets, and he thought he would rather drown in the rain, right here, right now, than letting someone take away Amylia from him and Samantha. He would rather overdose on Ibuprofen while trying to take away this horrible migraine than letting someone do such thing to his family. No – he would rather try to stand this migraine then letting someone do such thing. Yes. He rubbed his head, hoping the pain would go away miraculously and walked the rest of the way home. He had to betray Samantha. It was as if the skies felt the same pain as he felt in his heart when he opened the front door and noticed Samantha and Amylia sitting on the couch, watching an old European TV-series called "'Allo, 'Allo". His wife and the five-year-old laughed a bit at the moment he entered the living room. Apparently René the café owner had just made up another far-fetched excuse to convince Edith he didn't have anything going on with Yvette. Ever since Samantha's colleague Robert had returned from a trip to London, bringing home some videos of the series, she borrowed some videos from him from time to time to watch. Horatio had to admit that the series was rather amusing. But even René's adventures with the waitresses and the British Airmen couldn't light his spirit or take away his head ache.   
Samantha looked up when he closed the door.  
"Hey. You're home"  
Horatio nodded. "Where do we keep the Ibuprofen again?"  
Samantha was visibly surprised that he had forgotten this. "You're totally soaked. Come here and sit down, I'll make you a nice cup of coffee and bring you a glass of water and some Ibuprofens. I'm telling you, you're putting too much effort in your work."  
"As if you don't" Horatio replied. Amylia quietly slid off the couch and walked over to her father.  
"Daddy?" she asked in her sweetest voice. "Are you okay? You look sick"  
Horatio smiled but this smile immediately faded as it sent another pain flash through his body.  
"It's nothing, sweetheart. Just a head ache. I'll be all right. Now, tell me – what was your day like?"_

Amylia looked at Horatio. "That's the worst thing you have ever done?" she asked. Horatio shook his head. "I have done worse things. But this is what has been bothering me the most ever since."  
Amylia understood. It's hard to betray people who trust you, who'd trust you with their lives. And she could understand why this had been bothering him for all those years. After all, it was practically a choice between possibly the safety of quite a few people and his family or the trust of his family. And that's a tough choice to make.  
"So you betrayed mom to keep the family together?" she asked quietly. He nodded.  
"And we screwed up anyway. Two years later we couldn't keep it together."  
"yeah, but there is a difference in the situations. The first one was someone else ripping it apart and the second one-" she fell silent, knowing that saying any word more would make the both of them sad.  
"I love you, Amylia, you know that. You're my daughter. I would have given up anything in the world to keep you with me. You wouldn't know how hard a decision it was, how tough it was to just leave you and your mom behind at La Guardia."  
"you're right. I don't know. But I do know that sharing secrets really helps lighting your mood. Christina taught me that in Middle school."  
"I could have used friends like Christina when I was your age" Horatio said, smiling a little.  
"Well" Amylia smiled too. "You got me now to share your secrets with. Quite some years late, but it's never too late to learn, is it?"  
"It indeed isn't." Horatio looked at his daughter. She now was a responsible young woman. A smart young woman. He could hardly believe she was deep inside still the same girl she used to be. But as a parent, you always feel like it was just yesterday when your kid was still a baby. Especially if you hardly see them for eleven years.   
"Oh" he said suddenly. "To talk about something different; there is a man in town, a man I despise. He needs to be told was his position is. Do you want to come with me?"  
Amylia smiled still, broadly now. "Absolutely. What is it that he has done wrong?"  
"So many things. One of them being abusive to someone I care very deeply about a few years ago."  
"That someone you care very deeply about, is that perhaps miss Salas?" Amylia asked. Judging on the expression on his face, she had guessed right. She laughed. "Oh come on dad, it's obvious you like her, it's obvious she likes you, you and mom split up years ago and you don't hear me complaining about it. So tell me, what's exactly going on between you two?"  
"Nothing you need to know about"  
"Hey!" Amylia said, pretending to be hurt. "No more secrets!"  
"There's no secret in this, I just am not going to tell you. Will you please help me clear the table?"  
Amylia got on her feet and punched her dad friendly on the shoulder. "I know you're right in what you say about you just don't tell me, but I'm a curious person and I want to knoooww" she whined the last word. Horatio grinned for perhaps just a second and decided he wouldn't say anything.  
"No. It is no and will remain no"  
"Very well" Amylia said stubbornly. "If YOU don't tell me, I will just ask her."  
"Don't. You can go with me to the lab tomorrow, okay?"  
"Deal" Amylia smiled and picked up the plates. "But first we're going to that guy tonight, right?"  
"Right"

**A/N: **I need some information on the last memorable moments of the last year of high school in the US. If anyone can please give me some info on the following subjects, it'd be awesome:

- Graduation (when does it take place, what are the requirements to graduate et cetera et cetera)  
- Prom  
- Summer holiday  
- If the summer holiday is over if you're done with high school and attend college the academic year after, what exactly happens?  
- How are academic years divided? I've heard of semesters and trimesters, but I myself hardly use those words so I don't really know what they mean...

I'd appreciate it a lot if someone would answer these questions for me! Thanks!


	12. Rick Stetler

**Rick Stetler**

"So this is a bit what patrolling is like?" Amylia smiled. She and Horatio were sitting in the car, in front of one Rick Stetler's house, waiting for him to arrive back home. Horatio had told her everything, from Stetler's abusive behavior toward Yelina to Stetler just being an ass.  
"Quite. And I think he is just arriving."  
A car passed them and parked on the drive way in front of the house.  
Amylia heard her cell phone ring and noticed it was Christina.  
"Hold on a minute" she told Horatio and she picked up the phone. "Amylia speaking."  
"Hey, it's me."  
"I know. So, tell me, how're thing in New York?"  
"They're okay. The mother figure wants to speak to you."  
"Your mom? Why is that?"  
"I dunno, she asked me to call you because she wanted to speak to you."  
"Okay."  
"Here she is"  
"Hello, this is Maura Stok, Christina's mother" Maura's voice sounded quite loud, and Amylia was sure Horatio could listen every word they were exchanging, but somehow, she didn't mind.  
"Hello Mrs. Stok" Amylia said.  
"Amylia, I'm worried about you. Christina was telling me you have something going on with a guy who's almost twice your age!"  
"Well" Amylia laughed a bit insecure. "He's not really twice my age. Just over ten years older than I am"  
"That's still an awful lot, Amylia. I don't think you should pursue that thing."  
"Mrs. Stok, please, I find it really sweet of you that you're worried over me, but I haven't found anything wrong about him yet. Something like this happens quite often."  
"I know" Mrs. Stok said bitterly. "I know, Amylia. But that doesn't mean you should pursue this."  
"Mrs. Stok, I can assure you that if it's taking a wrong turn, my father will take care of things. Please, don't worry about me."  
"Fine" Mrs. Stok sighed. "Amylia, you and Christina were always very close and since she is an only child, we always saw you as some sort of extra daughter, do you understand that? So you understand we're worried over you?"  
"Thank you, I really appreciate that." Amylia said politely, hoping this conversation would be over. After all, there was someone else to talk to now.  
"Okay. Here's Christina again."  
"Thanks."  
"Hey" Christina's voice sounded. "I'm sorry about that. She's really overprotective."  
Amylia laughed a little. "Well, Chris, I don't really mind that. I'd rather have your mom and everyone else being overprotective over me than nobody giving anything about what happens to me. And I know how it looks – after all, he's an adult and I'm almost, but not yet eighteen. I know these kinds of things happen more and most of the times it's only about one thing for at least one of the involved parties. But that's not the case here, I think. So tell your mom that I really appreciate it that she's so worried over me, and that I'll give her a ring if something is wrong. Okay?"  
"Sure" Amylia could hear Christina smiling. "Oh, by the way – Jase has been released. And he's gone nuts"  
"He was already nuts in the first place. Speak to you later?"  
"Yeah. Take care, all right?"  
"You too" Amylia closed the phone and looked at her father. "You overheard the conversation. Go ahead. Say what you need to say."  
Horatio looked at his daughter. "I don't have anything to say. Just that Mrs. Stok has a little point in what she was saying, but you had one too. I'm not going to forbid you anything when I have already given in, and I think you can decide for yourself what's okay and what's not. You're not eighteen yet and so still a minor, but I also think that Mr. Wolfe and you know what can be done and what can't. You have common sense, I expect?"  
Amylia laughed a little and what relieved to notice a little smile on her father's face. "Of course I do. Come on. Let's go tell that mister here that he needs some common sense too."  
Horatio nodded slowly and got out of the car, followed by Amylia. Rick Stetler was unloading things from the back of his car. Golf clubs, Amylia noticed.  
"Hello" Amylia greeted Stetler in the most polite manner she could pretend. Stetler turned around and noticed her.  
"Hey" he apparently decided Amylia was not interesting enough and closed the back of his trunk, swinging the golf bag over one shoulder and walking to the house.  
"Are you always that polite with people?" Amylia asked.  
"Are you always that impolite?" Stetler replied.  
"Do you have to answer every question with another question?" Horatio now appeared from behind the neighbor's hedge. Stetler looked at him.  
"Horatio"  
"Rick."  
Amylia could sense the tension between these two men. She was happy not to be that deep involved in the apparent silent fight between them.  
"Who's that girl you brought?"  
"Who, me? You could ask me yourself, you know" Amylia said. "But I'll introduce myself anyway. Amylia Caine."  
"You have a daughter, Horatio" Rick said. It wasn't a question.  
"I have a daughter, Rick."  
"You have quite a lot of family nobody knows about, don't you? Quite some skeletons in your closet."  
"They are not secrets, Rick. On the contrary. They're just not meant for you to know about."  
Worthy opponents, these two. Amylia smiled a little.  
"Mr. Stetler, may I ask you a question?" she asked. Stetler looked at her.  
"Why?"  
"I just wanted to know if you have ever been in real trouble. If you've ever experienced bad times. And then I don't mean running out of chocolate. I mean depressing times."  
"What does that have to do with anything?" Stetler asked in return.  
"Nothing. Just curious" Amylia smiled.  
"Have you been in touch with Yelina, lately, Horatio? I've heard she's back in town."  
"Yes, Yelina, that's the thing I wanted to talk to you about. She was telling me you have tried to contact her as soon as you knew she was back in town."  
"Well, Horatio, it seems you have someone else to worry about now. So I suggest you let Yelina handle her own business. I think she can stand up for herself perfectly. She's a grown woman, you know."  
"I know" Horatio replied. "But we both know what happens if she stands up against you."  
"Are you still referring to that black eye? Let go of the past, man. This is the year two-thousand-and-seven. The past is far behind everyone."  
"Is that why you still feel hatred against me? Because I thought the promotion to Lieutenant is also a thing of the past."  
"Go to hell, Horatio" Rick said rudely.  
"Only to pay you an unhappy visit, Rick" Horatio answered calmly.  
Amylia was seriously impressed of this smart answer. She looked at Stetler. Yeah, he really looked like the typical ass-kissing scumbag.  
"Get the hell off my property." Rick really seemed pissed now. He put the golf bag on the ground and looked at Amylia and Horatio.  
"But, Mr. Stetler, I'm already off your property." Amylia pointed at her feet, that were just standing on the curb.  
"Don't be a little know-it-all, you"  
"You don't talk that way to my daughter. I have one more thing to tell you, _Rick-"_ Horatio spoke the last word as if it was something gross. "You don't touch Yelina or anyone else for that matter, or I will _kill _you."  
"You wouldn't"  
"Watch me"  
Horatio walked off, Amylia following him. By the time they returned to the car, an angry neighbor was waiting for them.  
"What were you doing there? It's the middle of the night, you shouldn't be fighting with nice neighbors like Mr. Stetler!"  
Horatio showed the angry neighbor his MDPD badge. "I'm lieutenant Horatio Caine, mister…"  
"Gabriella, Tony Gabriella." The man seemed a bit calmed down. "What are you doing here, lieutenant?"  
"I needed to talk to Mr. Stetler." Horatio said. "There are some things going on between him and me. Nothing for you to worry about."  
Tony Gabriella seemed okay with this statement and after a short exchange of greets he left.  
"It's not really the middle of the night, is it?" Amylia suddenly said to Horatio. He looked at her.  
"For some it is. Let's go home."  
"You know what? He's a real ass."  
"Good people skills."  
"Nah-uh." Amylia shook her head. "Don't need people skills to recognize an asshole."  
Horatio laughed a little, only a little, and then returned to the car. Amylia walked to the passenger side of the car and opened her door.  
"You know what? I'm glad I'm not that involved in what ever is going on between you two. The tension alone would kill me."  
Horatio started the engine and looked at Amylia.  
"It wouldn't. You're too strong a woman for that."  
Amylia smiled at this compliment her father was giving her and stared through the car window. "Isn't he going to make your job hell now?"  
"He already tries to do that, and he hasn't succeeded in it yet."  
Amylia smiled at her father. "You're the best father I could wish for."  
Horatio smiled back at her. "Thank you. You too."  
"What, the best father?" Amylia giggled.  
"No. The best daughter I could wish for."  
"Thanks, dad."

**A/N: **From the next chapter on are the spoilers for the last episodes of season 5. Please be warned.


	13. Fired

**A/N: **In this chapter you'll find spoilers for the last few episodes of season 5. Please be warned.

**Fired**

Horatio quietly closed the front door. He didn't want to wake Amylia, who was now allowed to sleep in. He should have told her earlier this week, and he shouldn't have promised to her that she go come with him to the lab today. He just couldn't have her around at the lab now, not before he would have told her. Because she was definitely not informed on it yet, otherwise she would have already complained about it. He walked over to the car that was waiting for him. Somehow, somewhere deep inside he felt bad. Bad, because this was the first promise to her he ever broke.

Amylia rolled over and was hardly aware of the fact that the warm bed sheets weren't covering her anymore. The more she was aware of the fact that the floor was cold and hard when you fell out of bed. Sleepily, she rubbed her head which had hit her bedside table and tried to focus on the alarm clock. When she noticed the time, she immediately knew something was off. Yes, it was a Saturday morning so waking up at seven thirty a.m. would be considered early. But she found it rather late, knowing that her father would take her to the lab again today. She quickly got dressed and made her way to her father's bedroom, only to find that the sun's golden rays were already shining through the windows and the bed was already neatly made, not even a single crease in the sheets except for the crease that was in it from the sheet being folded before being stacked in a closet. Amylia shook her head and walked back to her room. She checked the alarm clock. Oh yeah. She hadn't set it yesterday because Horatio had told her he would wake her up. Amylia made her way to the front door and noticed Horatio's shoes were gone too. Okay, so he had gone to the lab without even waking her up. Why?

Horatio received the message of another crime scene. This one he was supposed to get investigated without the help of one of his best CSIs. No – this person wasn't one of his best CSIs anymore. Horatio felt confused. He missed this CSI but also knew that what had been done was the right thing. How could things get so confusingly mixed up?

Amylia poured herself a glass of orange juice and sat down on the couch in the living room. She wanted to talk to someone now, but she refused to call Horatio. He had lied to her. For the first time since she could remember he had broken a promise to her and she felt betrayed. She turned on the TV and channel surfed for a small amount of time before settling on a children's cartoon. All right, more time to spend her day in a useless way. More time to get annoyed by children's cartoons that would make a three-year-old ashamed if they don't get what is being said.

Horatio couldn't help it but he just kept thinking of the promise he had broken. It seemed so stupid, and yet, it felt like the most awful thing to do. He decided that one time, only this time, for again the first time in his life, he would go home on time instead of three hours later.

Amylia heard the front door open and close a moment later. She got on her feet and rushed over to the front door. He was home early compared to the usual time.  
"Dad!" she said angrily. She had had all day to get angry about it. "Why didn't you wake me this morning to go with you to the lab?"  
Horatio looked at her. Something in his eyes calmed Amylia down, but worried her. "Amylia, please, sit down for a moment."  
"What's going on?"  
"I didn't want to take you to the lab today because you would have heard something I didn't want you to hear before you could understand it."  
"Tell me now then!" Amylia demanded.  
Horatio sighed. This was going to be really hard. "Ryan has been fired the last week."  
"What? NO! Why?" Amylia was confused. Why?  
"He jeopardized the case" was Horatio's only answer. Amylia looked at him.  
"How – how did he handle that? That he was being fired?"  
"I haven't spoken to him since" Horatio admitted.  
"Now that you say so – I haven't heard from him or seen him last week. I was just assuming he was really busy. Do you" she swallowed. "Do you think he doesn't want to see me because you are his supervisor and he is now fired?"  
Horatio looked at her. "I really don't know, sweetheart."

Amylia felt horrible. Ryan, fired? But how in hell had he jeopardized that case then?

Horatio noticed the question lying in Amylia's eyes, but he didn't want to answer it. He didn't want to disappoint his daughter, his only daughter. Ryan should have been honest with him, and he, Horatio, had all the reasons to fire him, but still he couldn't tell Amylia that Ryan had been fired because of a money problem. Somehow he knew that Ryan had probably just made some horrible mistakes once and that he could still see the difference between gambling and Amylia. But Horatio didn't want to hurt Amylia in such a way. Because he was sure Amylia would be heartbroken, hurt, or at least deeply disappointed. And he wanted her not to know anything more than what was absolutely needed.

"What is it?" Amylia asked suddenly. Horatio looked at her.  
"What is what?"  
"How he jeopardized that case."  
Horatio looked at his daughter and Amylia noticed the honest pain in his eyes. He didn't want to tell her, she knew it, but by not telling her, it hurt her more than what may have been the reason that Ryan jeopardized the case.  
"Amylia – Ryan had some serious money problems."  
"And you fired him because of money problems? OH!" Amylia got on her feet and looked at her father. "How do you expect him to get out of those money problems if he doesn't have a job? Huh? Well?"

Horatio couldn't remember having seen Amylia ever this angry and upset. Though Samantha had acted this way once and he immediately saw the spirit of Samantha shining through Amylia. He couldn't recognize anything that seemed like himself in her, only Samantha. Samantha. He looked at her and the fire that was in her eyes, more than anything else, it couldn't be put out with just some simple words. No. This should be straightened out totally before he could even think she was the same Amylia again.

She darted off to her room and slammed the door shut.

Horatio just sat on the couch, staring at Amylia's sleeping room door, hoping that she would put out the anger herself but knowing that that wouldn't happen very soon. But talking to her now was also not the brightest idea and so he walked over to the kitchen to start preparing dinner. Something that would keep his mind off work-related things.

Amylia fell down on her bed and stared at the wall, feeling how most of the anger slowly left her, leaving only the slowly burning anger inside her like an underground marsh fire. She raised her left index finger and followed one of the patterns the paint on the wall had. Ryan having money problems seemed just so – out of character. Although, everyone could have money problems of course. And it seemed rather weird that having money problems would jeopardize a case. Amylia understood that he then must have had money problems that also concerned illegal things, but he just didn't seem like the person to her to have money problems of that kind. Unless he had a whole darker side of which she had no knowledge.

Horatio collected the ingredients to make Spaghetti Aglio Olio from the kitchen cabinets. His specialty when it came to pasta. And Amylia's favorite pasta too, so maybe the smell of it could lure her out of her room.

Amylia smelled the distinct scent of pasta, and she immediately recognized it as indeed Spaghetti Aglio Olio.  
"Nah-uh" she said to herself. "That's not going to work now."  
She walked over to her desk and grabbed her cell phone. There were quite a few people she could call in this situation. Christina or Christina's mom, some other old class mates of her. Even Jason if necessary. But Amylia chose one number, one person, one that probably was predictable even to someone who hardly knew her; Ryan Wolfe.  
On the other side, she heard the phone ring for a couple of times and then a sound as if someone picked it up.  
It turned out to be a disappointment anyway; voicemail.  
"Hello. This is Ryan Wolfe's cell phone. Please leave a message after the beep."  
The first thought that occurred to Amylia was an ironical one that said 'creative'. The second thought was that of 'why doesn't he pick up the phone?'. The third, however, was one of concern. Perhaps something had happened. After all, no one had seen him since he was fired. She hadn't seen him for quite a few days. Horatio hadn't spoken to him after he was being fired. Amylia sincerely hoped nothing was wrong.  
Surprised she looked up. Somehow, her concern had taken over the anger. That had never happened before.  
Amylia clenched the cell phone in her fist and left the room. She walked over to the kitchen and looked at Horatio preparing the spaghetti.  
"I don't want to eat tonight. Ryan doesn't pick up his phone and I'm afraid something is wrong."  
Horatio looked at his daughter. He noticed she was being sincerely concerned. And if he was one hundred percent true to himself, he was too.  
"I understand. But you have to eat."  
Amylia shook her head. "I really don't want to. I want to know if Ryan's all right."  
Horatio slowly nodded. "Have you left a message on his voice mail?"  
"Of course. Perhaps I should send him a message?" Without waiting for an answer, Amylia started typing away on the cell.

When she was half done typing the SMS, the phone rang with a melody that Horatio recognized as Chopin's 'Nocturne'. Amylia answered quickly without taking notice of who was calling her.  
"Amylia Caine" she said.  
"You tried to reach me" a voice told her. An expression of relief appeared on Amylia's face when she heard the voice of Ryan Wolfe.  
"I did" she said, unable to control the sound of happiness in her voice. "I indeed did. Thank god you're all right. You wouldn't believe how worried I was over you."


	14. Cheer up

**Cheer up**

_Wednesday, May 9, 2007  
Miami_

_Sweet little diary,_

_I know it's been a while. I just never take the time to write anything down, but you're already used to that. I've been doing that since the age of twelve. Anyway.  
The last few months I have been involved in the most horrible and the happiest situations. A recap of all of them:_

_Halfway through March, mom was murdered. And I killed her killer. PD let me go, thank god for that. They couldn't build a case against me, but I also think dad had something to do with that. My hands are now covered in the blood of a murderer and since I sometimes believe in karma (and sometimes not) I will try to spend the rest of my life doing the right things in order to wash that blood off my hands. Maybe I should become a volunteer for charity. I really don't want to think about what has happened then._

_I moved down here, to Miami. At first I had to get used to the warm and humid climate, but that didn't take too long. Now it's May and everyone's preparing for the first hurricane of the season to hit Miami. I've never experienced a 'decent' hurricane ever before, so that should be a really exciting thing I think._

_And then; Spring Break! I asked Christina to come down from New York for Spring Break. We liked it, we loved it, we never had that much fun in our lives before, we agreed on that. Even she, Chrissy, with her really pale skin (she barely sunbathes, even when she gets the chance. Really, it's not normal. She's addicted to her computer) got a tan. Sure, a few days walking around with a sunburn too, but after those days the sunburn faded and she started developing some sort of tan. And then another sad thing happened._

_Janine, a classmate of mine and a good friend, who I'd met at my new school here, was murdered. By, would you believe it, my chemistry teacher. How horrible is that? Murderous teachers, only here._

_And furthermore, there is one name that is connected to all the other important events that happened lately (except for the names Amylia Caine and Horatio Caine):_

_Ryan Wolfe_

_Let me tell you a few things about him:_

_He's cute_

_He's smart_

_He's very sweet_

_So to me, he's perfect. _

_I have visited the lab a couple of times and I, of course, eavesdropped on some conversations between lab employees. No, I'm not curious. No, I'm not in denial!  
Apparently, Ryan has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder or OCD for short. That's totally okay with me, because you know that I always make a mess of everything (I mean everything) I come across. And if he truly has OCD, he'll straighten things up again._

_Oh no. I now came to realize that I've always used people to straighten things up for me when I made a mess out of things. Note to myself: stop doing that!_

_And I've heard people say he tries to imitate my father when handling cases. In fact, I've overheard them calling him 'Horatio jr.' behind his back. Since I've fallen in love with Ryan, what does that make ME? Mom jr.? Or a girl with a father-complex, some sort of wicked Oedipus-complex? I don't care actually, what it is. I love Ryan and I think he loves me, so what's the use of analyzing his personality then? I'll let it be as simple and as complex as love is. I don't actually know that, what love is, but I think I may have a clue and when I interpret that clue, I think love is both simple and complex. That is just one of the many complexities of life._

_Wow. I'm being philosophical here._

_Anyway, Ryan's being really sweet to me. He supported me when Jan was murdered. And we've been out for drinks some while ago. His favorite color's green, if you'd be interested in knowing that. When he drove me home after drinks, we discovered burglars around the premises. They took my laptop, but I have it back now. Ryan chased the burglars away and later he and dad investigated it._

_But now recently, about a week or more ago, dad had to inform the Internal Affairs Bureau of the lab that Ryan had ties to a criminal. And then they fired Ryan. Dad didn't tell me until the most recent Saturday, and I of course was really pissed off about it. Ryan told me later that a broadcasting network had hired him as a crime analyst for TV, but that he would rather still be a Crime Scene Investigator for the Miami-Dade Police Department. I don't know exactly what happened on Monday, since I was at school and dad at the lab, but when dad got home, he told me he was going to put all his effort into getting Ryan back on the CSI team.  
I really should call Ryan now. I haven't spoken to or seen him since Sunday, so that's too long._

_Oh, and Christina's mom thinks the age difference between me and Ryan is too big. I don't think so, but hey, I'm one of the involved parties. She could be right I guess, maybe my judgment on this matter is totally off, but if dad doesn't consider it to be harmful… because, what can exactly happen? I will not let anything happen that I will regret later, and so the worst thing that can happen is that either Ryan turns out to be a huge disappointment (which I don't think he will ever turn out to be) or a horrible break up. Perhaps I am naïve, but I am almost eighteen and there are numbers of people who will stand up for me when things take a wrong turn. _

_And by the way, my father is in love, I think. In love with his sister-in-law, Yelina Salas. His late brother's wife. It's almost as in Hamlet, isn't it? Because in Hamlet, Claudius kills Hamlet sr. because he is in love with Gertrude. Dad of course didn't kill uncle Ray, but he is definitely in love with Yelina. The thing that is the most different from Hamlet is that the character of Hamlet (jr.) saw such a relation as incestuous, while I am just happy for dad at this moment.   
Problem: dad's too afraid to hurt Yelina to do anything but talking to her and staring at her when he thinks she doesn't see it. I've seen it.  
If I didn't respect dad the way I do, I'd call him a chicken whenever I'd see him.  
Instead, now I only call him chicken behind his back.  
He isn't the person to read diaries because he respects the privacy of the innocent too much, so he'll never find out I think he's being a chicken in this. Come on, if you can shoot bad guys by firing two rounds, you can definitely do this, right?_

_Ah, I hear him leave for an appointment at this very moment. I hear the front door slam shut.  
I'll be home alone tonight. Party time? No, not really. Time to sit down on the couch with a bag of potato chips and a romantic comedy. Bad for my figure, but I'll try to lose those calories tomorrow in gym class. I'll just put some extra effort in it. _

_But first – first I now have to call Ryan. I need to talk to him._

_Ciao!_

_Amylia._

Sighing, Amylia closed the little notebook and hid it behind some books on her bookshelf. There was no need to hide the diary, but it was part of the ritual that belonged to writing in a diary. She looked at a photo of long ago. It was amazing what could happen in a few years.

Horatio took one of the many roads in Miami to get to his appointment in time. If there was one thing he hated, it was being late for an appointment. And he really wanted to be in time for this one.

Amylia picked up the phone and dialed a number that was already beginning to be familiar to her.

"Ryan Wolfe" Amylia heard Ryan's voice say. She smiled.  
"Hey Ryan. It's me. I was wondering how you're doing."  
"I'm fine. How're you?"  
"Oh, things are okay. School was horrible today, but you may still remember how school was"  
"I was a real geek, so yeah, school was horrible. How come your day at school was horrible?"  
"Oh, some annoying people. And very boring subjects. By the way, did you know that you were being called 'Horatio jr.' behind your back at the lab when I was over at the lab a couple of times?"  
"I don't think they call me that now anymore."  
"Come on Ryan, you just made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. Even I" Amylia joked. Ryan sounded a bit down and she hoped to cheer him up a little. "Cheer up. You sound really down. What's going on?"  
"The media, that's what's going on. They all want a piece of me"  
"Imagine what celebrities must go through everyday. Am I glad I'm not a celebrity" Amylia smiled.  
"Another one here."  
"You don't have a lot to say at the moment, have you?" Amylia asked, sincerely interested.  
"Amylia, I – I feel really bad that I let the whole PD down in the way that I did."  
"See? You're not that bad, you regret your mistakes. But you really have to cheer up now, otherwise I will hang up the phone and I enjoy talking to you too much to do that without reason"  
"You're supposed to cheer me up then"  
If Amylia wasn't mistaken, she now heard the smallest bit of relief or at least it sounded less down.  
"I will try. Do you like jokes?"  
"What kind of jokes?"  
"Just jokes. I'm really bad at telling jokes, but if you tell me a good joke, may it'll cheer you up."  
Amylia giggled. And finally, Ryan seemed to laugh a little too.


	15. The Notary

**The Notary**

Monday night. Amylia hated Monday nights. And especially is she had to spend them alone. Because Mondays always brought new cases to the Miami-Dade Crime Scene Investigators and therefore this most of the times meant Horatio was doing overtime. There were, by the way, only a few points of light for this week – graduation and prom. Friday. After this, Amylia would have a lot of weeks to spend with her father and with Ryan here, in Miami. She wasn't going anywhere, Horatio had told her they weren't going to go away on vacation, unless she'd be away for a few days. Then, and only then, he might spend some vacation days somewhere else, he had said. But it didn't seem as if she would go anywhere, so Horatio probably wouldn't go away either. Or? Back in Spring Break, Christina had mumbled something about Europe. Amylia had never been to Europe ever before so that'd be a nice trip if it hadn't been an empty promise.  
She dialed a phone number.  
"Stephen speaking"  
"Good evening, Mr. Stok. It's Amylia. I was wondering… is Chris there?"  
"Sure is. I'll get her for you. CHRISTINA!"  
Amylia laughed a little. Typical. People always started shouting first before taking the phone away from their faces. She heard Christina take over the phone from her father, saying something about 'you don't have to shout at me'.  
"Yellow"  
"Orange" Amylia replied.  
"What the?"  
"You said yellow, I said orange."  
"I said hello. Go wash your ears!"  
Amylia laughed. "I will. Listen, I was wondering something. Remember that you spoke about a trip to Europe, back in Spring Break?"  
"I do… that one that if you paid for your flight there and back you could come with me and my parents to Mallorca?"  
"That thing"  
"I do remember, as you can hear. And the offer still stands. You wanna come with us?"  
"I don't have the money, unless I can convince my father it's good for my… personal development."  
Amylia heard Christina giggle. "Personal development…"  
"That's a good find of me, isn't it?" Amylia grinned.  
"Don't get too arrogant, you! But ehm… don't you inherit at least something from your mom?"  
"No"  
"Have you informed the notary about her… passing?"  
Amylia hesitated for a moment. "No"  
"You should. She'll probably have a will in which is stated that you will inherit some things."  
"Seems you know a lot about it."  
"When my grandma died two years ago I tried to help my parents as much as I could. Do you know who her notary was?"  
"Yeah, I know who my mom's notary was. Thank. You know what? If I'll get her house, that means a place to live when I go study there! I mean, the mortgage on the house was totally paid so the house was legally all hers. Okay, I'll make a lot up to you, for all the wrong I did you. Do you want to share my mom's place with me when we go study at NYU?"  
"Sure! And you will come with us to Mallorca?"  
"As soon as I spoke the notary!"

Perhaps she was being too cool over her mom's death. But – it was as if the pain still hadn't come through, as if the pain was still struggling to break through the wall she had built around her heart. There had been a period of pain, just after the killing, but now she just felt numb when thinking about it.

Anyway. She'd go to Mallorca this summer!

All she had to do was inform the notary. The only problem was his phone number. And she'd probably have to visit him. How could she get her father to pay a trip to New York for her? Oh, she really needed a job.

Right at the very same moment, the front door slammed shut. Amylia looked up in surprise, gazed at her watch and realized her dad was home in time, for once. She darted away to the front door to greet him and tell the good news.  
"Hey daddy! How was your day at work?"  
Horatio looked at her and smiled. "You seem happy. And to be honest, quite a bit hyperactive."  
"Yeah, I drank too much cola this afternoon and I just called Christina and she told me I could come with her to Mallorca these holidays!"  
"That's wonderful, sweetheart. But how are you going to pay for that?"  
Amylia looked at him, as if he was stupid that he didn't think of the fact that the notary would know about Samantha's will. Completely forgetting that she hadn't thought of it before either.  
"Am I wrong to say that I expect to inherit at least something from mom? I mean, I do have to inform the notary of her passing…"  
Horatio looked at her. Amylia recognized the look. He wanted to tell her something but couldn't find the words to do so.  
"Amylia, sweetie, that has all been settled."  
"It has?" Amylia asked in surprise.  
"It has. You see, the notary contacted me the moment he had found out where to reach me. Apparently, Samantha had stated in her will that you would inherit everything but that I had to look after it until you would turn twenty-one. And she had stated that the notary was supposed to contact me and tell me about it, and not you, not until you had reached the age of twenty-one."  
"But how was the notary supposed to be informed of her death when nobody would have contacted him?"  
"Your mother was smart. You have to have your brains from someone."  
"Yeah, part you part mom. Go on."  
"She probably thought that if she'd die at an old age, you'd be over twenty-one for sure, and if she didn't, she'd still be a highly successful DA and therefore the message of her passing would be broadcasted all over the local news, because then it would be very sudden. If she would have gotten ill, she would probably have told you."  
"I guess being a DA isn't as peaceful as I thought it was."  
"Lots of death threats of people you send to prison. Anyway, it has all been handled and you know what? We'll split the costs for the flight to Mallorca. Half is from what you inherited, half I pay."  
Amylia looked at him, amazed. It had been a while she had seen him this talkative or this… happy, perhaps? What had happened? Nothing real interesting, or maybe still something interesting but not something depressing. And perhaps he was finally getting over the shock of having lost Marisol, having lost his ex-wife Samantha and re-meeting his daughter. If he hadn't, he'd now have a whole two months to let all his thoughts settle. Amylia smiled.  
"You're the best dad I could wish for. Now, you still have to answer my question how it was at the lab today."

**A/N: **I know it's shorter than you're used of me but the school year's coming to an end and therefore I'm really busy… don't count on a new chapter before Sunday!


	16. Brick Wall

**Brick Wall**

Amylia looked at the guy facing her. His name was Colin, he was eighteen and quite popular because he didn't belong in any clique in particular.

And he had just asked her to be his prom date.

Amylia had to admit that she had grown to like him of the last couple of months, after he had shown that he 'was really very sorry that Amylia's close friend Janine had been murdered' and after he had shown he wanted to support her in these times, as long as it wouldn't hurt his image.  
Because, he had told her, he knew what it was to be called a geek and he had worked hard to get from the geek-status to the in-between-status. But him supporting her hadn't hurt his image at all. In fact, it had helped both his and her image.

Amylia doubted. How could she be sure she knew him well enough to accept? And how could she be sure this wasn't a joke of some sorts and that she wasn't his second or third choice?

And the most important question of all; could she accept this invitation without it being a betrayal toward Ryan?

Amylia closed her eyes for a second and then looked at Colin again.  
"Colin, how can I – why do you ask me?"  
His face turned cranberry red for a moment.  
"Because… because you're beautiful and smart, Amylia. And…"  
"And what?"  
"And I have some sort of crush on you"  
After this, Colin turned an even deeper shade of red and looked away.

Amylia was stunned. A crush? On her? This was tearing her apart even more.

Accepting would probably make him think she fancied him. And it would still feel like betraying Ryan. She couldn't ask Ryan because he was still working on getting back on the CSI squad and she didn't want to disturb him in that. But she also didn't want to go alone. Amylia looked at Colin and took a very deep breath.  
"Colin, I'll go with you. But you have to know that I have already fallen in love with someone and it's not you, so no silly ideas, okay?"  
"So I've heard. Okay. Deal. But you'll still come with me?"  
"I'll go with you, but there are two conditions. One; you're a good friend and that's all, I just pointed that out to you, and two; I'll make sure I'll get home myself, okay?"  
"All right! Shall I pick you up at eight?"  
"You pick me up at eight, that's fine with me." Amylia noticed a familiar car stopping next to the piece of sidewalk that was closest to her. "That's my ride home" she explained to Colin. "See you tomorrow at graduation and you'll pick me up at eight. Bye Colin!"  
"Bye, Amylia" he said, after which Amylia walked off to the car that was waiting for her.

She got in and looked at the driver.  
"What was that all about?" he asked. Amylia smiled.  
"That's Colin, he sits behind me in Physics. He asked me to go with him to the prom"  
"What did you say?"  
Amylia looked away from the driver. "I accepted. But I can make that undone if you don't like that!"  
Ryan grabbed her hand. "Do you like him?"  
"As a friend, yeah, I do."  
"Does he like you?"  
Amylia giggled. "He has a crush on me"  
Ryan smiled for a moment. "Thought I noticed that. I can't keep you from going and having fun with your friends."  
"Thanks" she kissed him on the cheek. "I knew you'd understand it. Besides, I would have asked you if you weren't that damn busy to get back on the team"  
"Horatio does everything he can and I'm trying to do the same, and the team supports me a lot. The only problem is that most of them are now on a break"  
"Why's that a problem? I can help you if you'd like me to"  
Ryan smiled but didn't reply. Deep inside he would love it if Amylia would help him, but he also knew that wouldn't exactly help to get him back on the team. And even deeper inside he understood that Amylia couldn't just take him to the prom, he'd probably be the oldest, but he was a bit disappointed that she hadn't invited him. On the other hand, what would his answer have been? Probably no anyway.  
"Do you want me to bring you home?"  
Amylia nodded. "Please. I have to call Christina and I have so many other things to take care of for tomorrow, so that'd be the best."  
"Okay. Amylia?"  
"Yeah?"  
Ryan kept silent for a moment. "Congrats on your graduation"  
"That's tomorrow!"  
"Still. It's just a ceremony, isn't it?"  
"Of course. You know that, you went through the same yourself."  
"Indeed. But you're already sure you've graduated, aren't you?"  
"Uh-huh"  
"Congrats then"  
Amylia laughed. "All right. Thanks."  
The traffic light was red and Amylia used the pause to give Ryan another kiss on the cheek.  
"What was that for?"  
"Because you're being the sweetest guy in the whole world"

Friday, eight o'clock precisely, Amylia was totally ready for the prom. She wore a light blue dress, almost icy blue, and wore her hair in a complicated manner. The shoes she was walking on were silver stilettos and she now only had to wait for Colin to show up.

Horatio looked at his daughter, his little girl who wasn't his little girl anymore. She looked beautiful tonight and he was sure she'd have a lot of attention. Inside, he smiled, knowing that the miraculous event that was called prom hadn't changed that much since he graduated high school. On the outside, on the other hand, he played the concerned parent he was supposed to be.  
"Who are you going with to the prom?" he asked her.  
"Colin"  
"Do you trust him?"  
"Yes, I do, and I pointed out to him that if he gets any funny ideas…"  
"Okay. Take care, sweetie."  
"I will"

Finally, five minutes past eight, Colin showed up. Amylia said bye to Horatio, who on his turn said to Colin that he had to take care of Amylia. Colin nervously nodded and guided Amylia to his car.

Ryan threw another file on what he called 'the file pile'. This was so boring. He looked at his watch. Almost nine. Amylia would probably be at her prom now, dancing with that Colin guy who had a crush on her. He smiled at the image in his head of Amylia having fun with her friends and looked at the files he still had to go through.

Amylia waved at a few friends she hadn't noticed around before. She let go of Colin and walked over to them.  
"Hey you all! How're you doing?"  
"We're cool" on of the guys said. Amylia didn't recognize him but knew he was here because of Gabrielle, who happened to be a very attractive girl. "Hey Gabrielle" she said. "You okay?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine. I noticed you're here with Colin. Didn't know you two were a couple. I thought you had something going on with one of those crime lab guys, Ryan Wolfe or something?"  
"Colin and I are just here as friends. Ryan couldn't come because…" yeah. Because of what? Because she hadn't invited him? "Because he had to go to a crime scene"  
"Yeah…" Gabrielle laughed.  
"No really!"  
"Chill. I believe you."

Colin looked at Amylia talking to Gabrielle. He couldn't hear what they were talking about, but he thought to know that he would need all of his courage to do it. He started walking to them.

"Take a seat" Gabrielle said. Amylia nodded and wanted to sit down when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and noticed Colin.  
"Hey Colin. I was just - "  
Colin wouldn't even let her finish her sentence, but just kissed her. Amylia heard Gabrielle laugh a little and whisper; "Just as friends huh?"

This wasn't supposed to happen. This was not good. Not good at all. She pushed Colin away and looked at him. She couldn't remember having ever been this angry before, except perhaps when she had attacked her mother's murderer.  
"Colin, I thought I had told you no silly ideas" she said. She wasn't even angry, she realized, but disappointed. She slapped him in the face and turned around, walking off.

Outside, she was glad to breathe in some fresh air. Where did Colin have the idea from that he could just kiss her? Amylia felt awful. This was real betrayal. She looked at her watch. Ten o'clock. It was much too early to just go home, Horatio would ask what had happened and she didn't want such inquiry. But she also didn't want to go back now. Amylia sat down on a low brick wall and rested her head on her hands. It had just been a kiss but it felt horrible.  
"Amylia?"  
Amylia looked up. "Ryan? What are you doing here?"  
Ryan walked up to her and sat down next to her on the low brick wall.  
"The work bored me and I wanted to see if you were all right. Apparently not, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting out here."  
"Indeed." Amylia sighed.  
"So what happened?"  
"How long have you got?"


	17. Relatives

**A/N: **Forgive me for any misuse of words. I lack serious concentration at the moment.

**Relatives**

Ryan embraced Amylia. "He was jerk who was out of control. C'mon."  
Amylia looked at him. "No, wait just a minute please. Do you have your badge with you?"  
He looked at her with an expression that told her everything she needed to know. However, he also spoke, adding to her understanding it. "Amylia, I've been fired. What do you think?"  
"Sorry, my mistake. Do you still have anything that will convince them you're still with the Police Department?"  
Ryan thought for a moment. "I still have an old ID in my car"  
"Cool. I've got an idea." Whispering, she told him her plan.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Ryan finally asked. Amylia nodded in enthusiasm.  
"Very sure. Come on, let's go."  
Ryan went to collect the old ID from his car while Amylia waited for him, after which they together walked over to the entrance. Amylia showed her invitation, Ryan showed the ID card. The guard let them through without any hesitation.

Amylia guided Ryan through the crowd to where Gabrielle, some guys and girls and now also Colin where seated.  
"Hey Gabrielle" Amylia greeted her 'friend', as if she was in a happy mood.  
"Hey. Who's that?" Gabrielle answered with a contra-question. And… Oooh… did Amylia notice jealousy in Gabrielle's expression?  
"Oh, yeah, this is Ryan Wolfe. Ryan, Gabrielle Fornara."  
"Hey" Gabrielle said.  
"Hi" Ryan returned.  
Amylia now turned to Colin.  
"Colin, Ryan. Ryan, Colin."  
"Oh yeah, the guy who kissed you without you wanting it" Ryan said dryly. Amylia tried not to smile and looked at Colin, who seemed to get pretty anxious right now.  
"You're that guy from TV!" Colin suddenly said.  
Ryan nodded almost invisibly and looked at Colin again.   
"Yeah. Amylia's been telling me-"  
"I didn't know it was true!" Colin interrupted in defense. "Gabrielle told me that Amylia had just made all of it up!"  
"Yeah, well, more rumors about me have been going 'round. I am said to have had a hand in Jan's murder. I have been said to have made up to be my father's daughter. And last but not least, not least at all, it is said that I have killed my mother's murderer. Only one of these rumors is true. But Colin, if it were true what Gabrielle apparently told you, that still wouldn't have given you the right to just kiss me like that after I told you to not get any funny ideas!" Amylia, having angered herself by speaking to Colin this way, now slapped Colin in the face, again. Hard. Making sure she hurt him with all her physical power this time.  
"Did you see that? That's assault!" Colin said to Ryan. Ryan looked back at him.  
"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't really watching. What happened?" he said. Amylia grinned.   
"She slapped me!"  
"Hmm. What you did to her could be seen as sexual intimidation. You've got two options. One; I take you downtown or two; you sincerely apologize."  
"She just hit me!"  
Ryan acted as if he was reaching for his cell phone. Colin turned red and finally gave in.  
"All right, all right. I'm sorry, Amylia."  
"Forgiven" Amylia smiled. "Ryan? Could you please give me a ride home?"  
"Certainly"  
Amylia kissed Ryan on the cheek, leaving a stunned Colin and a jealous Gabrielle behind.

Horatio looked at the clock. Ten fifteen. It wasn't too late to drop by at someone's place now, was it?

Yelina was just tidying the living room when she heard the doorbell ring. She looked at her son Ray, who was watching some action-packed television show.  
"Ray, would you please open the door?"  
"Mom, I'm watching TV!"  
"_Dios,_ Ray" she shook her head and walked over to the front door.

"Hey" Yelina said after she found out who was standing on her doorstep.   
"Hey" Horatio answered, smiling. "I was wondering how you're doing."  
"I'm fine" Yelina answered. Horatio remembered what Amylia would say at such an answer, fine. He nodded at Yelina. "Has Rick caused any more trouble lately?"  
Yelina shook her head. "No. I don't know what you've done but it's been effective. Thank god. You wanna come in for a cup of coffee?"  
Horatio smiled. "That'd be nice"

Amylia looked at Ryan.  
"I know a nice place we could go to. You know a place called Cannes?"  
Ryan smiled. "As in Cannes, France?"  
Amylia looked at if she was disappointed, but couldn't hold back her smile. "No, of course not. In Miami Beach. The club."  
"Yeah, I know that place. All right. You give me the directions and I'll drive us there."  
"Cool. If I'm right, in France the Cannes Film Festival is taking place now. So I think it'll be movie week at that club."  
"What's today's movie?"  
"Dunno. But it'll be quiet there because quite some folks who're still in high school go there and of course as you know it, tonight's prom at my school."  
"Aren't you a little overdressed for a club, by the way?"  
Amylia suddenly remembered her dress and glanced at the bluish fabric. "Damnit, you're right. Tell you what. Could you stop by my dad's place first then? I'll call dad I'm on my way home already."  
She dialed a mobile phone number.

Ray heard a phone ring. He looked up from his favorite TV show and looked around to see that Horatio put down his cup of coffee and answer the phone.  
"Caine" he said.

"It's the other Caine" Amylia giggled. "Listen daddy. I'm already on my way home. Prom sucked."

"It… 'Sucked'?" Horatio asked, while he looked at Yelina who was telling her son to keep his feet off the coffee table. He remembered how jealous he had been deep inside when it had been his little brother's prom, how jealous he had been when Raymond had invited Yelina while he, Horatio, hadn't dared doing that so many years before.

"Yeah" Amylia answered. "Where are you? Doesn't sound like you're home."  
"That's because I am not home. I'm at Yelina's. Why don't you also come over?"  
Amylia looked at Ryan. "Uhm… okay. But… Wait a minute." She covered the mouthpiece of the phone. "Ryan, my father asked me to come over to auntie Yelina's place. Shall I ask him if you can come with me?"  
Ryan felt a little insecure about what to answer. But why shouldn't he go with her? He had been seeing her for almost two and a half month now, so that was quite a while… maybe he could just go with her.  
"Uhm, yeah. Okay."  
Amylia nodded and removed her hand from the mouthpiece. "Dad, I have to tell you that I'm with Ryan in his car at the moment, he's driving me home. Can he come with me?"

Horatio fell quiet. Amylia was with Ryan at the moment? Hopefully nothing had happened that she had had to call Ryan. Though, he knew she had seriously considered inviting Ryan for the prom but he had told her that Ryan would probably be busy working on unsolved cases. And probably too busy to take time off for her prom. But what if she had invited him anyway? On the other hand, there was something else he did not hope, something that would be against the law… but he immediately pushed that thought out of his mind. Amylia wasn't that kind of person and Ryan wasn't that kind of person either.  
"Uhm, all right."

Amylia felt a little relieved that her father didn't say a word about Ryan driving her home.  
"Thanks, dad. I'll take a quick stop home to change from dress to casual and then we'll come over, okay? Let's say… forty-five minutes?"  
"That's eleven o'clock then."  
"See you at eleven?"  
"Eleven" Horatio confirmed.

Amylia pushed the button with the red phone on it and put it back in the little purse that matched the color of the dress. She then looked at Ryan.  
"We're expected at auntie Yelina's home at eleven."  
"Yeah, I heard that" Ryan said. "Amylia…"  
"Hmm?"  
"What if Horatio thinks we did something we didn't do?"  
Amylia smiled. "Come on, Ryan, he knows me and he probably knows you even better. I'm not that kind of person and you don't seem like such a person to me to just do such things. And you and I know very well that I'm still a minor."  
Ryan smiled now too and concentrated on the road. "You're right. Okay. Right turn here, isn't it?"  
"Yeah."

Horatio looked at Yelina. Her beautiful brown hair cascaded down her shoulders and back while she picked up a few empty coffee cups. She looked up and Horatio looked at her eyes that had the color of dark chocolate. He smiled, and she smiled back at him. Well, apparently his daughter had inherited the mood to start something really serious from her mother, because in all those years he never had the courage to start something really serious. Yes, Marisol had been serious, but Horatio now seriously began doubting that he had loved her as much as he loved Yelina. Sure, he had been concerned over Marisol and wanted her to be happy and satisfied, but was that love or had his concern and care for people taken control over him again, as happened too often?


	18. Nighttime Family Time

**A/N: **Sorry it had to take quite a while, and after this it's going to be another while, because school needs a lot of attention right now. So this is the last chapter before I send it on Hiatus.

**Night-time Family Time**

Amylia took a deep breath and looked at Ryan.  
"Here it is, I'm sure."  
"Okay"  
They got out of the car and walked over to the front door. Amylia knew the address but not the house itself and was happily surprised by the front yard when she entered the premises through a cast-iron fence in the garden wall.  
"Oh, look at those cacti and that bougain – bou-"  
"Bougainvillea" Ryan said. Amylia smiled.  
"Yeah. Those. They're beautiful, aren't they?"  
Ryan nodded and looked at the door. "You want to knock and let them know we're here or shall I?"  
Amylia grinned. "Well, there's still a doorbell and so I will ring the doorbell." She raised her hand and pressed the button. A muffled ringing sounded.

Both Horatio and Yelina got on their feet, almost simultaneously, when the doorbell sounded.  
"I'll get it" Horatio said. "It'll be Amylia and Ryan, I think"  
Yelina nodded and sat down again. Horatio walked over to the door.

By the time the clock had struck two in the morning, the little group of five, consisting of Horatio Caine, Yelina Salas, Ryan Wolfe, Amylia Caine and Raymond Caine jr. had had loads of fun talking to each other and there was hardly any feeling of unfamiliarity left for Amylia. She was glad she finally felt the way again she had been longing for since March. Since her mother had been murdered. She had real family again. She had good friends again. Auntie Yelina was one of the sweetest women she'd ever met, Ray was really funny and then there were of course Horatio and Ryan, the two men she both loved and cared about. Horatio because he was her father and Ryan because, well, that one was obvious.

At the moment, Ray was telling another anecdote about one of his and Horatio's fishing trips. Apparently, Horatio had taken him on quite a few fishing trips.  
"Uncle Horatio, you remember that time when we caught that huge fish? I think it was Lake Placid…"  
"The time you fell overboard because the fish was putting up quite a fight?" Horatio asked, smiling. Amylia grinned and looked at Ryan, who was displaying a genuine smile as well. Ray turned red when his uncle mentioned that but he laughed as well.  
"That very time. That was fun"  
Horatio smiled at the soon-to-be sixteen-year-old. "It sure was"

Yelina smiled at Amylia and Ryan when she noticed them smiling at each other. So sweet, such love. Somehow, she wonder why Horatio was agreeing with them both seeing each other, Ryan being about thirteen years older than Amylia, but Yelina understood very well that Horatio probably knew Ryan to be a good young man and trustworthy enough. Wouldn't it work out, then it wouldn't work out, would it?

Horatio looked at Yelina smiling at the sight of Amylia and Ryan sharing such a sweet moment. He felt a sting inside. Damn guilty conscience.  
"Amylia, I remember you told me over the phone that prom 'sucked'. How come?" he asked. There was still a conversation that needed to be kept going.  
Amylia looked at her father and smiled. "Oh, well, you know that Colin who'd asked me to be his prom date?"  
"Yes, of course. You introduced him to me this evening"  
"Well, he – uhm" Yeah. What was the best to tell it without Horatio getting disappointed in Amylia's judgment?  
"He – uhm" Damnit! Curse the words that make people feel awkward! "He kissed me, I pushed him away and outside I ran into Ryan. Together we told Colin that what he did was wrong and then he apologized – that's it" Amylia took a deep breath after this fastened short explanation and looked at Horatio to find out his judgment about the situation.

Instead, Ray reacted. "That Colin seems like a real jerk to me" he said. Amylia smiled and looked at her cousin. "He is."  
"You're human, he is, things happen" Yelina said. Amylia looked at her and couldn't thank her enough for making such a statement. And it's also a very difficult thing to say. Thank god it can also be said through a facial expression.

Horatio didn't react at all. Amylia couldn't read anything off his face. It made her slightly nervous, but finally, he said something.  
"You handled that very well, I think" he said. Amylia grinned.  
"Yeah, well, I think he wouldn't do such a thing again any time soon now"  
Ryan carefully embraced Amylia. "You can't help it that you're such a sweet, beautiful and smart girl"  
Amylia turned cherry-like red and smiled at Ryan. "Aww, thank you so much! That's so sweet of you!"

Yelina smiled at Horatio. "Leave them be" she softly whispered.  
Horatio smiled back at her. "I'll try"

Ray jr. yawned and looked at the clock. "Well people, I bid you good night, 'cause I'm gonna go to bed. It's getting a tad late"  
Yelina smiled at her son. "Buenos noches, Ray"  
" 'Night, Ray" Ryan and Amylia said simultaneously.  
"Good night" Horatio was the last one to wish him good night. He looked at the clock, which was now pointing at two-thirty AM, and then looked at Amylia and Ryan.  
"I think it's time for us to go" he said. Amylia nodded. She felt pretty tired herself as well.  
Yelina looked at Horatio.

The two Caines, Mr Wolfe and Miss Salas go on their feet. They all walked over to the front door.  
"I really had a fun time" Amylia told Yelina. "Thanks I could be here for some time"  
"Same here" Ryan said. "Thank you"  
Yelina smiled at them. "You're both welcome. And Amylia – just drop by some time if you feel the need to visit us"  
Amylia smiled back at her aunt. "I surely will" she and Ryan walked over to Ryan's car, leaving Horatio and Yelina alone, both standing near the door.

The familiar awkwardness between both was back instantly.

Yelina smiled, sort of, at Horatio. "Thanks for stopping by" she said. "It was nice you were here again"  
Horatio avoided her gaze and looked at the ground, while he too smiled. "It was nice to be here again." He said softly.

"I'm sure I'll have to go home in a minute, so if you want to go, you can just go" Amylia said to Ryan. She knew he had to be tired as well, since he had been working all day, then had saved her from a prom that sucked and now had spent the rest of the night at some sort of wicked family-reunion.  
Instead of what Amylia had expected, Ryan looked at her and shook his head.  
"No way. I'm staying here until I know you'll be home safe"  
"I should really adjust my trust in you" Amylia joked. "After all – you're sweeter than I had imagined"  
"Is that a good or a bad sign?" Ryan asked, smiling.  
"Depends on what you think is good and bad"  
"Nah-uh" Ryan said. "Depends on what people consider grey"  
"There is no good, there is no bad, only grey"  
"What's that from?" Ryan asked. Amylia smiled.  
"Dunno. I've watched too many movies over the last couple of years. C'mon, leave the gun, take the cannoli"  
"Yeah, I've seen that one as well" Ryan laughed. "Some of those who I've watched the Godfather with actually considered it to be a boring movie"  
"Depends on what's boring" Amylia said. Then she couldn't hold her laughter any longer and laughed as well. "Oh god, how awful are we? Having fun over nothing funny!"

Horatio had finally gathered the courage to look Yelina straight in the eyes. She smiled at him.

Amylia looked at her father some sort of talking to her aunt. She then smiled, again, for the who-knows-how-much time this night, at Ryan.  
"Just look at that. They both don't have the guts to confess their feelings for each other" she said.

"Or maybe they do" Ryan replied only moments later, when they witnessed Horatio kissing Yelina – or Yelina kissing Horatio, it was a tad hard to figure out who was kissing who.

Amylia laughed. "So even I-" she stressed 'I' "am wrong at times" she said jokingly. Ryan couldn't do anything else but admit that fact, while Horatio and Yelina were kissing each other beneath a star-covered night-sky.


	19. Paradise Ain't Paradise

**A/N: **I'm back! Or better yet, the fic's back! Remember I sent it on hiatus a couple of weeks ago? Well, finally, I found time to write on for it! So it's back! And I like dedicating chapters so this time, I dedicate this chapter to my friend Sven, because he really helped me out on the last part of this chapter.

**Paradise ****ain't**** Paradise**

Amylia lazily looked at her very best friend, Christina, who lay next to her on a towel on this paradise-like beach.  
"Oh god, I wish that every day could be like this" she sighed.  
Christina opened one eye and smiled. "Oh yeah. Imagine. Lying on the beach the whole day long, swimming, eating fine Spanish dishes and checking out very cute guys. And no parental interference whatsoever, until it's time to eat."  
Amylia laughed. "I agree with you on every point, except with the cute boys thing."  
"What? Why? Because of Ryan? Girl, you're on Mallorca for god's sake. He's not around anywhere. And checking out doesn't mean fooling around with 'em."  
"You should stick to those phrases you come up with." Amylia said sarcastically. "But no, really, c'mon, you know me. I'm old school. I don't check out other guys when there's a cute one walking around back home."  
Christina chuckled. "Those aren't my phrases and you know it. But don't you see it? Polygamy is going to be it, this twenty-first century" she added, just as sarcastically.  
"I should really kick your ass for such things. But hey, you got it easy, you ain't in love"  
"Hmm" Christina turned over so her back could get a tan as well. "You know what else I noticed?"  
"What?"  
"My father's got a New York accent. My mother's got a New York accent. I got a New York accent. Back in Miami, yours was practically gone. But now, it's back again. How did you get rid of it so quickly and how did you get it back?"  
Amylia laughed again. "I'm practicing on getting rid of it. You know, you're an easy target being a fresh newbie. So, I tried to get rid of it by articulating in the right way and such and such. And it's just a way of not repressing it when I'm talking to you guys."  
"All right, I'd buy that if I didn't know you. Now I want the truth." Christina demanded.  
"The truth?"  
"The truth"  
"Are you ready for 'the Truth?'"  
"I'm ready for the truth"  
"Fasten your seatbelts"  
"I'm fastening my seatbelts"  
"It's for my future job."  
Christina was completely dumbfounded. "Your future job?"  
"Yeah. I applied at a local New York TV-station to broadcast some things when I got the time. Hey, I got to get a job somewhere, don't I?"  
"Won't your father help you then, with your college tuition?"  
"Sure he does, but I feel guilty, you know. I don't want to rely completely on my father for every penny I spend."  
"You're nuts, you know that? If I were you, I'd take any opportunity to do nothing and get everything."  
"That's because you're a leech."  
"I'm not!"  
"Yes you are!"  
"I'm not!"  
"You are!"  
"I'm not!"  
"You are!"  
This time, Christina replied by throwing a handful of sand at Amylia. "I'm not!"  
Amylia laughed and threw back another handful of sand. "We're nuts, you know that?"  
Christina wiped the grains of sand that stuck to her hands off her hands and grinned broadly."Surprise?"  
"What, for me? No way. We've been nuts since ever and we'll be nuts until eternity."  
Christina nodded and then suddenly her attention shifted to a wholly different thing. "Check out that cutie over there. Oh wait, who am I kidding. You're not into cute guys on their vacation."  
Amylia just rolled her eyes and tried pushing her best friend over. Christina could be annoying as hell but even so the sweetest girl in the whole wide world. "Shut up you."  
"I won't and you know it. By the way, what time is it?"  
Amylia checked out her watch. "Seven thirty, why?"  
"Shit" Christina quickly got on her feet and folded her towel to a pizza-box-sized square. "My parents said we should be back in the apartment by seven thirty for dinner. They want to take us to that fish restaurant in that small village they visited yesterday. The one they just couldn't stop talking about over dinner yesterday"  
Amylia nodded. "Oh yeah, I remember. They said an Italian runs it, didn't they?"  
"Yeah. Makes no sense, an Italian on Mallorca. I learnt my Geography. The Italians got Sicily. Why would some guy then move to Mallorca? Makes as much sense as someone moving from Phoenix to Dallas."  
Amylia smiled. "You've never been to either of those towns, so perhaps they're totally different. But you're right, it doesn't make sense. But he may have his reasons. For all we know, perhaps his wife lived here and didn't want to move. Who are we to judge him on the place where he came from and where he lives now?"  
Christina just looked at Amylia. "When did you become so politically correct?"  
"I'm not politically correct. Only when political correctness means having the opinion I've got."  
"Hmm" Christina opened the door of the apartment. "You could be right. I hate that."  
"What?"  
"I hate it when you're right?"  
"Why?"  
"'Cause that always means I'm wrong and I hate being wrong" Christina laughed and walked over to the terrace. "Hey mom, hey dad."  
"Hello" Amylia said to Christina's parents. They just smiled and looked at Christina.  
"You're a tad late, sweetheart"  
"I know" Christina admitted. "But we totally lost track of time"  
"That's not the first time, now, is it, honey?"  
"Oh, mom, please don't bring _that _up again." Christina sighed. She stepped back into the apartment and let herself fall onto the couch.  
"What's _that?"_ Amylia curiously asked.  
"Oh, it's no big deal. Few weeks ago, I was out on a date with this very cute guy. Trust me, nothing happened. You know me. Anyway, we had this really interesting conversation about treating people – I know, heavy subject for a first date, but hey, we both found it an interesting subject – and before I knew it, it was one forty five and I was supposed to be home at two. There was no way I was going to make that. But mom kept bringing that up over and over again. I wish she could just be like my dad, who told me that I was grounded for a week and I agreed, and after that he just acted the way he always does. But I get sick and tired of my mom bringing that up every time I do something wrong."  
"Yeah, I understand. Have you tried talking to her?"  
"I did, but once she didn't want to talk with me and the other time I didn't want to talk with her. But it'll be all right eventually."  
"What do you want to do for now?"  
"I dunno. I won't go with them to that restaurant – that is, if you don't want to go either. Perhaps we could sneak out and go to one of the other apartments."  
Amylia felt she had to act on guard here. "How do you mean?"  
Christina smiled. "I met this guy the other day, and he said that if I wanted to have a party, I had to visit his apartment. Seems he's throwing a party with some of his friends every night or something."  
Amylia poked her friend in her upper arm. "You're so naïve, you know that? You're so naïve. For heaven's sake, you're from New York! You know what a party means. Party does not necessarily mean party. You're a – seventeen, b – on holiday and c – naïve. Of course they invited you for a party that is just a party. Chris, how stupid are you?"  
Christina looked at Amylia. "You think they meant a _party _instead of a party?"  
"Oh, I don't think they meant a _party. _I know for sure they meant a _party._ How old do you reckon the guy was?"  
"I dunno. Twenty-five or something?"  
"And you think a twenty-five year old guy invites a seventeen year old chick on just a regular holiday party? You gotta get yourself half a brain, Chris."  
"Now you're really insulting me" Christina said with a serious look on her face.  
"I'm not insulting you, I'm trying to get you to understand that you cannot trust nobody!"  
"I can trust you"  
"No, you can't. For all you know, I could let you down any second. You think I wouldn't. But there lies the thing most people trip over – thinking. You shouldn't think and you shouldn't trust. You should have common sense. That's the only thinking and trusting you can do."  
Christina just looked at Amylia. "Who taught you that?"  
Amylia closed her eyes for a second. She then looked away. Christina noticed a tear in the corner of her eye. "It was your mom who taught you that, isn't it?"  
Amylia slowly nodded. "I can't understand how you keep complaining about your mother who's just worried over you when I've got no mother to complain about. It's so hard, you know. Trying to grow up without a mom. She taught me to never trust anybody when I was fifteen. But I never understood it fully, until she died. Until Janine died. I gotta respect anybody who respects me, but I can't never trust nobody. But it doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't matter. They're all gone. Gone."  
"What about your father? And what about Ryan?"  
"Ryan's sweet but he doesn't understand what I'm going through. I don't think he ever lost someone to the needs of someone else. Dad does, but I don't want to bother him with it if there's so much he has to go through himself. Christina, will you please understand me?"  
More tears rolled down Amylia's cheeks now. Christina sat up straight and hugged her best friend.  
"Of course I will. I'll give it my very best shot."

**A/N: **This is chapter 19. After this chapter, there will be only three more. I will give you a nice preview. Chapter 22, the very last chapter, will contain the following part:

_Horatio stared at the head stone in disbelief. She was dead. Killed. He had lost many people in his life, but so far this had been one of the deaths that hurt him the most.  
__"I'm sorry" he whispered at the head stone and turned around, walking back to where he was coming from._


	20. Thunder and Sunshine

**Thunder and Sunshine**

Horatio walked over to the mailbox and opened it. Inside, he discovered the usual bills and advertisements. But a letter and a postcard as well. As he thought Amylia had sent both, it surprised him. Why would she send both a letter and a postcard? He flipped over the postcard and read Amylia's short and sweet message.

_Hi Dad!_

_How're you? Me, I'm great. The weather is, as you might expect, great here. But I'm guessing it's the same there. I miss you. Hope to see you soon again!_

_Amylia._

Horatio smiled and then flipped over the letter to see for who it was. After all, perhaps it wasn't Amylia who'd written the letter and perhaps it wasn't meant for him at all.

Which it wasn't.

Horatio recognized the handwriting to be Ryan's. And the letter was meant for Amylia. Repressing the normal curiosity one felt when holding such a letter, Horatio grabbed the mail and carried it back inside.

Just before entering the house, a small drop of water fell on the mail Horatio carried. Horatio looked up to the sky, slightly surprised. Another drop of water fell down, this time onto Horatio's face. Rain. The hurricane season was here, and Horatio was not that surprised that it started raining now. The small drops would quickly grow larger, so he quickly stepped into the house and closed the door. There had been no hurricane warning this morning, (or recently, for that matter) so Horatio was pretty sure that there'd be no hurricane, but he was sure that this would be a storm no one actually liked.

Ryan looked through the window of his apartment to see the raindrops falling down on people and cars on the streets below. The grey skies and wildly moving trees seemed to indicate a hurricane was on it's way to the Florida coast, even though there had been no warning. He didn't care.  
How stupid had he been, the last couple of months? Why had he acted the way he had? Gambling. The stupidest mistake one could ever make, especially when one wasn't sure if his financial state could handle big losses. And after a big loss, borrowing money of someone of whom he did know the background wasn't squeaky clean. He had been stupid and the stupidity had caught up with him, getting him fired.

Amylia. That was probably the only thing he actually did right. But now, she wasn't here. Now, she was on a holiday with that friend of hers, Christina. In Europe.

Ryan sat down on a chair and buried his face in his hands.

He had been so stupid. How could he ever make up for his mistakes, for his aberrations? How could he ever prove that underneath this layer of stupidity, there was still the person he used to be, still a criminalist, even though he was fired?

He missed Amylia. She always seemed to understand that whatever someone did, what unjust someone did to the world, underneath the layer of acts there was still the person's core and only a person's core character mattered. If someone was bad on the inside, the layer of acts on the outside was bad as well, but that layer's appearance could easily be changed by good acts. If someone was good on the inside, bad acts could easily make a person look bad. She understood that. But there were too many people outside who didn't know or didn't seem to want to know. The media, for one. Politicians, as well.  
He would never say he was one hundred percent good. But Ryan was convinced that he wasn't bad, and whatever someone would say, he would still be himself. He hoped.  
But it was so easy for others to overlook such aspects of someone's character. People focused too much on appearance anyway.

The thunder shook Miami up, awakened the sleepy and startled the awake. Flashes of energetic light slashed the sky in two, parted both sides of the deep grey clouds.

Horatio looked at the deep, dark sky. Something was off. This wasn't to become just a regular storm. This was to become a real hurricane, or a tropical storm to say the least. He quickly turned on the TV and tried to find a channel that would tell him the situation outside, that would give him a weather forecast for the next three hours.  
No warning. No message. No forecast. Nothing indicating that there was a tropical storm well on it's way to hit Florida.

Perhaps it wasn't a tropical storm. Perhaps it was just a regular storm.

A big bang startled Horatio and he quickly gazed through the window again, only to discover that lightning had probably struck a building. If it weren't for the lightning rods, most of the buildings in Miami would have many black spots because of lightning impacts.

The very same bang startled Ryan as well. To him, it sounded like a canon fired from a close distance and he immediately realized that the lightning had struck this very building. But he didn't pay too much attention to it. If only… if only he could prove himself by doing something that would restore people's trust in him. Too bad there was this storm now, otherwise he could have called someone whose judgment he would never doubt. There were actually two people whose judgments he'd never doubt. The Lieutenant – and the Lieutenant's daughter.

Close to another big pool of water, a sea instead of an ocean, the Mediterranean instead of the Atlantic, sat two girls. Both seventeen, one would become eighteen in November, the other one in March. One was slightly paranoid, the other slightly naïve. Together they were a perfect team, and they sometimes, in private conversations about plans for the future, called themselves 'sisters in crime', even though they weren't sisters at all. Their names were known to the people who they thought to be important. Amylia and Christina.   
Here, the weather was perfect. A perfect azure, just a few clouds at the horizon while the sea was a bright aquamarine. Amylia looked at Christina and sighed.  
"You know what? Somewhere, I'm glad we go home tomorrow. I really like being here with you and your parents and so on, but I'm starting to miss my father and Ryan."  
Christina smiled. "I understand. Don't you worry, they haven't forgotten you. Or perhaps they have, but then you'll find out anyway"  
Amylia softly pushed her friend. "Shut up. Tomorrow back to the States, one night sleep-over at yours and then I take the train home. Sounds like a perfect plan, doesn't it?"  
"Sounds… okay. Make sure you do sleep-over, 'cause my mom is planning to make her famous nasi goreng when we get home. She really loves to cook, I guess. I wish you could stay the day after as well, because she's going to make cannoli that day. You have never tasted my mom's cannoli, have you?"  
Amylia shook her head. "I haven't. But cannoli's an Italian pastry, isn't it? So how come your mother can make good cannoli?"  
"Same way as she can make great nasi goreng. She used to have this friend who was of Indonesian origin and that friend taught her to make this delicious nasi. And that cannoli… I don't know for sure, but I think she once told me her mother, my grandma, used to live next to an Italian family. The 'mama' of that family taught my grandma how to make cannoli and my grandma taught my mom. That's the simple version. Don't ask for the complex version of the story 'cause I don't even know it myself."  
"That's some interesting history then"  
"Hmm. My grandma loved to cook, my mom loves to cook and I hate to cook. That's the easy summary."  
Amylia laughed. "But why do you hate to cook then? I mean, I find it fun, standing in the kitchen pouring things into a bowl and mixing it all together and after half an hour you find out if your mix worked."  
"Nah, it's not that. It's getting my hands dirty to do things that can also be done the easy way. Look, I don't mind getting my hands dirty if I have to save your ass, even though you have to save mine more often. I don't mind getting my hands dirty to make sure things happen right. There's no other way to do that, so I don't mind. But there are so many ways of preparing dinner without getting your hands dirty. So I hate that."  
"Logic, I guess. Okay, come on, let's go for one last swim before packing our bags. I don't want to waste any time doing nothing while we could have done something."  
Christina moaned. "Can't you be lazy for once, please? Doing nothing is very relaxing, you know."  
"You'd be surprised if you'd find out how lazy I actually am. Now come on." Amylia replied. Christina moaned again but finally got on her feet and followed Amylia to the bright aquamarine water.


	21. Message

**Message**

Amylia thanked Mr and Mrs Stok for inviting her for the vacation and then she turned to Christina. "Chris? Thank you so much. I really had a nice time."  
Christina smiled. "So did I. So, uhm… have a safe trip home and say hi to your father and Ryan for me."  
"I sure will. Hey, you know what?"  
"What?"  
"I'll say hi to them for you"  
Christina friendly punched her friend. "Just say hi to them for me."  
Amylia laughed. "We're nuts"  
"And don't we know it. Come on, you've got a train to catch"  
Amylia gazed at her watch. "Shit. Thank, Chris, and I'll see you one day. Good bye, Mr and Mrs Stok!"  
"Bye, Amylia" Christina's parents greeted back. Amylia grabbed her suitcase and darted off the to platform from where her train to Miami would leave. Thirty very long hours spending in a train would be hell, but she had her cell phone and a notebook and that should be enough.

Ryan gazed at the letter he held in his hand. There was no use in it. It was wrong, he felt it was wrong. It meant a conflict of interest for everyone involved and it meant holding her back from developing a lifestyle all on her own, without any influence of adults, of people who tried to guide her in a direction that she might not want to head in at all. She deserved her own life, and even though it hurt him to realize this, he knew he had to act on impulse this one time in his own life. He had done many things that weren't impulsive, in fact, he tried to think everything over up to a point where it irritated many. And he knew he wasn't good enough for her. She deserved better than a lying, money-troubled control freak. Her letter was so sweet, and he knew he could never live up to the standard she deserved without her knowing she deserved it. He felt depressed. He hadn't ever felt depressed before, but he was convinced of his own meaninglessness. Of his own unworthiness. Convinced, yet it hadn't been proven to anyone else, because everyone else (except for some) believed in his goodness deep inside. But Ryan couldn't see that right now. He felt confused and depressed and he knew that reading the letter again wouldn´t really help. Yet, he had to read the letter again.

_Sweet Ryan,_

_How are you? You know I really miss you, but I'll be home real soon again. I've had a good time with Christina and her parents on Mallorca, but I hope to be with you again soon because being with you feels so good. I do also hope that you can get back to working at the lab again soon, but I'm convinced my father's working on that. And you are of course as well ;)__You know what I just can't get out of my head? After my summer holidays, I'll be off to New York again to go to college. And I'm so afraid I'll miss you so much. Please promise me we'll write and call and stay in touch in any possible way.__I don't know what else to tell you at this moment. It's funny, I always feel like I have a lot to tell you, but when it comes to it, I can only tell you everything face-to-face. That's so weird, I'm more comfortable talking to you than writing to you. It always used to be the other way around when I was in love with someone. But maybe the fact that I'm not fourteen anymore has also to do with that ;)_

_Love,_

_Amylia._

She was so sweet. He didn't deserve her. Ryan reached for his cell phone. He really had to call someone right now. Especially after he remembered the letter he had sent Amylia for when she'd be home. She should be home right within a couple of hours now, and therefore he had to talk to her father before her arrival home. This could be important and he needed the assurance of his former mentor that he was doing the right thing.

Horatio pushed the 'end call' button of his cell phone after the conversation and for a moment, he gazed into the nothingness that was being called 'sky'. Ryan had sounded pretty depressed on the phone and Horatio was sincerely worried that he might act on impulse and do something that would be regretted later on. Therefore, he had asked Ryan to come over and have a talk face-to-face, to ensure the right outcome. There were many things at stake; Ryan, for he seemed to have a serious lack of self-esteem since he had been fired and for he seemed to deem himself unworthy of any attention from Amylia whatsoever; Amylia, for she had gone through a lot and even though Horatio trusted she could cope with it, he wasn't entirely sure and he wanted to shield her from any more hurtfulness that might break her. He remembered how he had lacked care of whether or not he pushed himself to breaking after Marisol's death and although Ryan wasn't in a direct line of fire from anyone, especially not after being fired from the department, and therefore there wasn't a direct threat that he might get killed, but one telling another that he felt that whatever there was between them should be broken could perhaps be as hurtful to a seventeen-year-old as was the death of a loved one to a fifty-year-old. Horatio did not know for sure, but he deemed it unnecessary to leave anything to faith if things could be planned so faith could not come in between.

Some fifteen minutes later, Horatio's phone rang again. Horatio hoped for some better news, perhaps that of Amylia's safe arrival at Miami's train station, but instead, he was presented with a far less appealing message: someone told him an horrific accident had happened. A car had crashed into a tree, and it might have been luck that the driver had survived to tell his rescuers to call Lieutenant Horatio Caine, and that the Lieutenant would pass the message. According to the messenger, the driver had just accelerated after having stopped for a traffic sign when another car had accidentally bumped the car and had changed the course of the car, leaving it to crash into a tree. As Horatio inquired to know the driver's name, he already realized it: Ryan Wolfe.

Faith wasn't always on the side of those who needed it, and Horatio realized that in case Ryan would indeed pass away, it would completely devastate Amylia. How should he break this news to her? The only option was to be honest with her and inform her straight away; other options would just cause distrust and true anger in the future and those were emotions Horatio did not want her to feel for as long as possible; if he could prevent at least one person from distrusting everyone this person once trusted and if he could prevent at least one person from experiencing true anger caused by this highly flammable mix of distrust, love, confusion and worry, he would have made up for all of his mistakes in the past. Every one would experience these emotions one day, but if… if he could prevent one person from experiencing these flammable emotions… Horatio dialed a much too familiar number. He had hoped to never deliver such a message to his daughter. This – sucked.

**A/N: **This chapter is a little shorter than I had anticipated. I apologize, even though I know you will say I don't need to apologize. It make me feel better to apologize, so I will do that anway. By the way, I have to state one thing; Rainbow Stevie's fanfic 'Hollow' caused me to write down the very sentence _'__He remembered how he had lacked care of whether or not he pushed himself to breaking after Marisol's death[…' _because one sentence has been stuck in my mind since I read Hollow. The sentence in which Rainbow Stevie so brilliantly described Horatio's feelings at that moment in 'Hollow', after Marisol's death. I will not copy it down here, because I feel that that would violate some sort of (un)written copyright 'rule' and I will just tell you to find 'Hollow' and read it, because it is a brilliant story. And now I bid you all good night, for I am off to bed. Oh, one thing left to tell you: I apologize for any misuse of the English language, because I used some words in this chapter that I have never used before (although I knew the words) but which had the feel to it that I needed. And now, good night.


	22. Ending the pain

**Ending the pain**

As soon as the message that a car containing Ryan had crashed into a tree had reached Amylia, she had stopped the first taxi she could stop and told the driver to drive as fast as he could to the scene, only to find out that Horatio had been brought to the hospital. She was now sitting next to his hospital bed, hoping everything would be okay in the end. She couldn't survive on her own yet. She really needed him. She needed everyone she loved. She now experienced what Horatio had been experiencing for a long time; the fear that everyone you loved would be ripped away from your life. Her mother, Jan, Ryan getting fired and now in a car crash. Somehow, she thought this was the beginning of the end. A tear rolled down her cheek. She couldn't take it any more. This was really too much. It had been too much ever since her parents divorced. She had been keeping everything to herself, even though she pretended to share everything with Christina and she pretended to know what was best for others. But the truth was that she didn't even know what was best for herself. The truth was that she desperately needed someone to talk to. Someone like Ryan, because he had not been tainted by similar misery. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it.  
"Ryan" she whispered. "Ryan, I need you. CSI needs you. We all need you. You can't leave us now. Come on, wake up!" She finally let go of what she had held back for all the years since she first had been hurt. The pain that had grown to an excruciating level. She closed her eyes while she let all the tears run free. She could only imagine the pain Horatio had been going through for all those years. If seventeen years already felt like your heart was being ripped apart in thousands of small shards, imagine thirty-four since his mother's death. Her pain multiplied by three would kill any normal person. If he could survive that, she could survive this feeling of pain as well and help Ryan through this. She squeezed his hand harder while she hoped she could fight for his life together with him. She didn't really believe in passing strength to others, but she held on to each little shard of hope to make him survive. Life was being so cruel.

Horatio looked at his daughter. He felt sorry for her, sorry that she had to experience this. And he felt sorry for Ryan, that he had to go through this, but he was unconscious now. He placed his hand on her shoulder. Amylia looked up and around.  
"Hey. Welcome back." Horatio said. Amylia weakly smiled.  
"Thanks. How did this happen?"  
"Well, sweetie, I don't know for sure, but I asked Ryan to come over because he had something to talk about. The paramedics told me a car bumped into his and therefore he crashed into a tree. He'll be fine, I think."  
Amylia nodded. "I hope so."  
Horatio smiled, hoping he could comfort her. "Let's give him some rest, all right?"  
Amylia nodded again. "Yeah. That will be the best, I guess."

Horatio swallowed when he opened the gate to the beautiful cemetery. He looked around at Amylia.  
"I want you to see some things."  
Amylia just looked at the marble head stones that were lined up. "This must be an old cemetery. It's huge and there are so many head stones."  
Horatio nodded. "I don't know how old it is. But many people I cared for have been buried here. Over there, near those trees, is the grave of an ex-employee of mine placed. His name was Tim Speedle; he has been killed in the line of duty."  
Amylia nodded and looked around. She sensed the impact this cemetery seemed to have on her father, as if the serene silence that always was present on cemeteries had such an impact on him that he tried to hide it with talking, explaining what happened to the people he cared for.  
"Dad?"  
Horatio looked at her. "Yes?"  
"Death is just a part of life, isn't it?"  
Horatio was now the one to smile weakly. "It appears so." He paused a moment and then repeated his answer. "It appears so."  
They strolled on along the graves, looking at the names and dates that indicated the person lying there. Horatio suddenly stopped, turned about ninety degrees to the right and took a few steps. Amylia realized that he had walked over to the grave of someone he had deeply cared for.

Horatio crouched and stared at the head stone in disbelief. She was dead. Killed. He had lost many people in his life, but so far this had been one of the deaths that hurt him the most.  
"I'm sorry" he whispered at the head stone and turned around, walking back to where he was coming from  
"My mother" he whispered softly to Amylia. She noticed the pain in his eyes and though she wanted to comfort him, she knew there was hardly anything to do. And she understood that she could better leave him alone, because that would give him the opportunity to let go of his emotions without having to be concerned that anyone else saw that.  
"I'll go back to Ryan, okay?"

Amylia clenched Ryan's hand in her hands.  
"Ryan?" she asked suddenly when she felt the hand she held onto move a little bit. The surprising feeling of happiness that she felt made her heart bounce faster and made her fingers tingle as if they were hot and cold at the same time.  
"Ryan?" she asked again, now paying more attention to the changing expression on his face. His eyelids seemed to open a bit. Amylia felt incredibly relieved that he, Ryan Wolfe, the man she loved with whole her heart, was awake now. Or at least, seemed awake.  
"Am – Amylia" he whispered.  
"Shh" she told him. "You should rest."  
"What happened?"  
"You've been in an awful car accident. You lost control over you car because some ass bumped into your car and then you crashed into a tree. But you should really just rest now."  
Ryan almost invisibly nodded. Amylia let go of his hand and softly touched the injuries on his face. The black eye, the gashes and bumps, all of it seemed so out of place.  
"Amylia" Ryan whispered, persistent because Amylia kept shushing him. "Amylia, you're too sweet for me."  
Amylia shook her head. "I don't wanna hear it. Shh."  
"Amylia, I think we should break up."  
Her curiosity won from her desire to care and she impulsively asked "Why?"  
Ryan tried to smile at her, but he soon looked as if even such a movement hurt incredibly.  
"Amylia, you'll be off to New York soon and you have so much you need to experience without someone interfering. The twelve-year difference is too much, I think."  
"I will write, no, e-mail you every day! And I will develop, I promise you!"  
"But that's my point exactly. I'm feeling that I might hold back your development. You'll be eighteen while I'll be thirty, and it's exactly those years that someone has to develop into who they will be for the rest of their lives."  
"You've been listening to my father." Amylia said grimly, suspecting her father of not liking the relationship between Ryan and her, which she found hypocritical because wasn't he the one who had married a twenty-two-year younger woman?  
"In fact, I haven't. Horatio told me that if it'd work out, it'd work out and otherwise we'd break up. He had this idea of just letting it go its own way."  
"I think that's a marvelous idea!" Amylia said. "I mean, when I will feel like you're holding me back, I'll tell you. And that's all there is to do, I think."  
Ryan sighed. "Perhaps you and Horatio are right after all, but I just want you to be happy and to become the person you want to be."  
Amylia smiled. "That's so sweet of you. You know what? We'll just give it some time and then we'll see. All right?"  
Ryan nodded. "Okay."  
"Right. Then you should rest again now because I don't want you having to stay in this hospital any longer than is necessary."  
Ryan tried to smile again. "You're sweet. I'm sure they'll like you up there."  
"I hope you mean New York by 'up there' because I'm not planning to die any time soon and neither am I planning to let you die." Amylia said, smiling. Ryan now truly smiled as well, ignoring the pain it caused him.  
"I did mean New York, but I guess they'll like you in the other 'up there' as well."  
"Just as much as they'll like you."  
"What time is it?"  
"Why?"  
"I just want to know, I just woke up and I've no clue what time it is."  
Amylia looked at her watch. "Today is August three of two-thousand and seven and the time is four twenty-eight P.M. And you, Ryan Wolfe, will probably be all right."

THE END.

**A/N: **I must admit I'm quite happy to have brought this story to an end. Still, it feels as if a part of me has died, because it's been an activity that I really enjoyed for the last four-and-a-half months, and now it's over. I would really like to thank everyone who read this story and reviewed to it, for I truly enjoyed reading the reviews; they were really nice. Sadly, the ending of this story also means my semi-retreat from FanFiction. The coming school year, I'll be in my second-last year of high school and I'd like to make a decent year out of it – It'll be the second-most important year. I'd also like to focus more on my "normal" writing, for the school paper and the local newspaper, and I hope to have time to work on some of my bigger stories. It is a semi-retreat because I will still be actively reading and reviewing stories and perhaps I'll post the occasional fanfic, but not nearly as much as I used to.

By the way, I heard this rumor, which has also been confirmed, about some important thing happening next season of CSI: Miami. Perhaps I wasn't as far off as I thought I was. ;)

So, thank you for reading and have a nice day!

Scorpii.


End file.
